June 2011 1

Volume 4, Issue 4

June 2011

Healing the Wounded Heart Project in Hue, Vietnam

www.discoveringdeafworlds.org

By Marichia Simcik Arese

In 2003, I contacted Dr. Nhan, Director of the Of-fice of Genetic Counseling and Disabled Children (OGCDC) at Hue College of Medicine and Pharmacy in Hue, Vietnam. I suggested that Spiral Foundation come to Hue to set up a permanent craft workshop, returning profits to fund heart surgeries for poor Viet-namese children. His response was a big incredulous laugh. Since I do not speak Vietnamese, I asked him to kindly arrange for an English-Vietnamese interpret-er to assist in setting up the workshop facility and to in-struct the artisans. His answer was: “You will not need an English-Vietnamese interpreter, since the artisans you will be working with are deaf.” My response was a big incredulous laugh of my own.

A week later, I found myself in Hue, working with a group of 20 artisans, all deaf or with physical dis-abilities, creating eco-friendly gifts made from recy-cled trash or discarded traditional Vietnamese textiles. Many of these artisans had never received any formal schooling, nor any sign language training, and grew

up feeling displaced, treated as a burden within their communities. Nevertheless, my first impression of this group was the tangible presence of a strong sense of solidarity among them: they were there to help each other make the best of the opportunity that Spiral Foundation of-fered them. They quickly learned to master the many skills needed not only for producing the carefully crafted items, but also for the accounting and mar-keting of these items, while expanding their own creative and self-taught way of communicating among themselves and with others.

Since 2003, items produced by these artisans have been sold internationally by Spiral Foundation, providing them with fair salaries, medical insurance, housing, a daily sponsored meal, and a

recreational allowance. Furthermore, all net proceeds from sales are returned to help fund heart surgeries for poor Vietnamese children via Dr. Nhan and his office. In eight years, the artisans generated enough funds to help operate on more than 300 heart patients.

This is why every item they produce has a little tex-tile red heart attached that says, “Healing the Wound-ed Heart.” By helping fund heart surgeries, the artisans are no longer “disabled”; rather, they are empowered to give to those even more in need. They are not only healing the wounded hearts of heart patients, but also healing their own hearts.

In 2009, with the help of OGCDC and Spiral Foun-dation, the artisans opened a retail facility in Hue, Healing the Wounded Heart (HWH). This shop is en-tirely run by the artisans, who are now experts in wel-coming visitors, encouraging visitors to buy items, and accounting for their shop sales—including the conver-sion of Vietnamese dongs to U.S. dollars, Australian dollars or euros. In the first two years of business, HWH donated its profits from sales to help fund 20

Healing the Wounded Heart artisans visit a heart surgery patient and her family in Hue, Vietnam.

2 Discovering Deaf Worlds

heart surgeries. As its profits grow, so does its capac-ity to provide humanitarian aid. The artisans are now no longer a burden on their community, but a precious asset to improving the lives of many others.

Recently the HWH shop has expanded to include a small tea room and fresh bar, where tourists can relax and enjoy a cup of Vietnamese tea or a fresh drink. The shop is truly a special place. In addition to being a relaxing escape from busy Hue, it also supports a won-derful cause. The deaf staff are incredibly talented at communication, and are rightfully proud of their work.

They are en thus ias -tic about exp la i n i ng HWH’s cause, and accomplishments.

Come visit HWH, a place of the heart.For more information about Healing The Wounded

Heart Project, contact the founder, Marichia Simcik Arese, at msimcik@sprynet.com, or visit these web-sites: www.spiralfoundation.org, www.ogcdc.org, and www.hwhshop.com.

Lê Thị Uyên Phương, center, laughs with deaf artisans An, Lan and Nhan at the HWH Shop.

Marichia Simcik Arese with a bag (made of recycled water bottles)

created by the HWH artisans.

June 2011 3

From 1998 to 2011, Spiral Foundation has delivered more than $800,000 in humanitarian aid to Vietnam.

4 Discovering Deaf Worlds

Leadership, Education & Empowerment of Deaf People in Pune, India

By Atiya Hajee

Pune, a city in Maharashtra, In-dia, is considered a hub of education. Despite its reputa-tion, Pune has not provided any higher education facilities for Deaf people. It’s a common situation across the coun-try: Deaf education in schools for Deaf people sans sign language, lasting only up to class five or seven. The students are then integrated into regular schools where they have no special resources to as-sist in their academic development.

It’s a tough situation for Deaf people here. We have a huge pool of extremely intelligent Deaf people who have been hunting for the right platform for higher edu-cation. Integration into a regular school/college is very unfair as there is no awareness about Deaf people in the city. People do not realize that Deaf people need sign language interpreters, and an accessible educa-tional system that is visual and caters to their needs.

Experiencing the non-accessible world of educa-tion, Mohd Aqil Hajee (Deaf) realized that he was not alone in facing these challenges. His friends and oth-ers in the city were facing the same challenges. Mohd Aqil and I (his hearing sister and an Indian Sign Lan-guage Interpreter) decided to share what we learned with our Deaf friends.

LEED (Leadership, Education, Empowerment of the Deaf) Pune started off with small informal gather-ings at home. Deaf friends came over for an evening to chat about topics related to Deaf development across the world. Some information was shared by Deaf friends who attended the FrontRunners Deaf Lead-ership program in Denmark. Eventually we started discussing the need to improve our English language skills. Mohd Aqil then took it upon himself to share his English language skills with his Deaf friends.

Realizing that our Deaf group had a very limited vo-cabulary, we decided to build one. We encouraged our

friends to share the vocabulary they had and explain what words meant to them. We discussed the developments in various Deaf com-munities across the globe, largely thanks to informa-tion on the Internet and shared by Deaf friends. We real-ized our activities focused on certain aspects of devel-opment, namely leadership skills,

education, and empowerment, and that is how we got our name and logo.

LEED Pune has grown in the past two years from its inception with informal sessions to a full-fledged pro-gram. We do not follow a syllabus or have any collabo-ration with institutions to guide us. Rather, we work by instinct; we discuss the latest topics and encourage our participants to share information. We are currently structuring the program to enable measurement of our success and failures.

During the initial stages, we tried hard to get the participants to come up and share whatever they wanted to, but they were shy and lacked confidence. Today, quite often, Mohd Aqil and I have to move off the podium as most of the participants have experi-ences to share and topics to discuss. We have built a two-way interaction at LEED Pune. We see confi-dence growing, thirst for education increasing and an interest to be more aware of things happening around us—in close proximity, and across the globe.

At LEED Pune we have a strong team, which in-cludes four Deaf boys and me, who are working to-gether to bring about changes in society. We invite Deaf leaders from across the country to share their experiences and discuss topics like human rights and history. We have made an impact on a few hearing parents of Deaf people, who now feel that it’s essen-tial to use sign language for communication. LEED Pune has also provided employment to five Deaf boys in food-malls across the city. This is an achievement

Deaf students learning at LEED Pune.

4 Discovering Deaf Worlds

June 2011 5

for LEED Pune. It also has given our Deaf students an idea of how the professional world works and how interview sessions and trainings are conducted by businesses.

We at LEED Pune believe it’s about time we brought about such change in society, and to bring the change, we have to be the change. Come visit us and encour-age us as we lead, educate, empower right here at LEED!

For more details, visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/LEED-Pune/143735755685611, at our blog at http://signersclub.blogspot.com, or send an e-mail to leed.pune@gmail.com.

Corey Axelrod: Thanks for volunteering to raise our social media presence. In just a few weeks’ time, you’ve helped increase the num-ber of people paying attention to DDW!

Lauren Bain, Shana Gibbs, Zach Handler, Maria Justice, Mohd Adam Mahadi, Lynd-sey McGrath, Maria Nikolaou, and Lauren Searls: Thank you for putting in the time and effort to ensure a successful benefit!

Ken Bain: Your generosity is deeply appreci-ated—our new PR materials look fantastic, and we have YOU to thank!

Nancy Berlove: What a generous gift you have given us in honor of your birthday! Thank you for supporting our work; you have been so kind to us over the years!

Shout-Outs!Shout-Outs!Shout-Outs!

At right is Atiya Hajee, interpreter and co-founder of LEED Pune.

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. – Andre Gide

6 Discovering Deaf Worlds

PEN-InternationalFor Students Who are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing

http://www.pen.ntid.rit.edu

PEN-InternationalPostsecondary Education Network - International

Pos

itive

ly Influencing the Postsecondary Edu

cation of Students who are Deaf or H

ard-o

f-H

eari

ng

NT I D

PEN-International is funded by grants from The Nippon Foundation of Japan to NTID

Rochester Institute of Technology | PEN-International | National Technical Institute for the Deaf52 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623

PEN-International is pleased to supportDiscovering Deaf Worlds

June 2011 7

Behind the Scenes of DDW’s WebsiteBy Wade Holdraker

I serve as the president of WEBsolutions of New York, a web development and marketing firm select-ed to redesign the Discov-ering Deaf Worlds website. I joined the DDW team in March 2010 as a web de-veloper, and my goal since the beginning has been to provide a dynamic web-site that would draw more attention to this amazing organization.

I have worked with the team to create the best ex-perience possible for people visiting the DDW website. This included easier navigation, a clean format, Ameri-can Sign Language videos throughout the site, an inter-active map showing the places DDW has visited, and much more.

Working with DDW over the past year has been an amazing experience. I knew immediately after my first meeting with Davin and David that I wanted to be a part of this team. I am constantly amazed by the level of

dedication and drive from them both and the entire DDW team.

I have seen the sig-nificant differences DDW makes around the world. In my short time with DDW, I’ve seen how much the team cares and how hard it has worked. I hope to join the team on a DDW Journey some day so I can help in its mission and see firsthand the results of DDW’s dedication.

Another goal I have is to use DDW’s website to help make its vision a real-ity. DDW and I are constantly working together on new ideas and finding ways to promote the website and the organization even more. I want as many people as pos-sible to know about the great things this organization is doing for deaf and hard of hearing persons both in third-world countries and locally.

If you have any ideas on how we can make DDW’s website even better, I can be e-mailed at webmaster@discoveringdeafworlds.org.

Wade Holdraker designed DDW’s new website.

8 Discovering Deaf Worlds

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who are alive.

– Howard Thurman

Follow DDW on Twitter!

Our handle is @DDW_Team, or go to

www.twitter.com/DDW_Team

Newsletter services provided byT.S. Writing Services, LLC

www.tswriting.comA Deaf-Owned Company

Deaf in DCBy Madan Vasishta

Now on sale!

To order a copy, visithttp://gupress.gallaudet.edu

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Discovering Deaf Worlds.

• Vietnam is the largest exporter of cashews in the world, and the second largest exporter of coffee and rice.

• When talking to senior Vietnamese people, it is respectful to avoid eye contact.

• Denying compliments is considered polite and equivalent to humbly saying “thank you.”

• A Vietnamese speciality is ruou ran (snake wine). This is rice wine with a pickled snake floating in it, and is considered to have medicinal properties and allegedly cures everything from night blindness to hair loss!

• There are an estimated 10 million motor bikes in Vietnam.

Did you know?DDW is off to Africa

this summer! We will connect with over 20 Deaf organizations and schools in Kenya and Tanzania.

Our goal is to learn from local leaders about the culture, history, struggles and success-es of their Deaf communities. Making personal con-nections is a crucial step to identify organizations that share our values, preserve local sign languages and reinforce locally-driven projects advocating for equal rights, education, and employment opportunities for Deaf people. As we build trusting relationships with these organizations, we are planting the seeds for fu-ture partnerships in East Africa.We will also attend the World Federation of the Deaf Congress in South Africa.

Want to follow our Africa tour? Tune into our website or Facebook page for regular vlogs; our first vlog is at http://bit.ly/mFCTie.

DDW is off to Africa!

June 2011 9

When your voice is no longer your own A commentary on the recent controversy

about the recognition of Lingua dei Segni Italiana (LIS)There is a silent battle going on as I write this letter;

a battle over a peoples’ voice, their right to be heard, and the ownership of their language, which may soon be wrested away from them.

Most of the world does not think about sign lan-guage as a method of regular communication, much less place it on par with spoken and written language. But as research has shown time and time again for over 50 years, sign language is indeed a language with it’s own rules, grammar, and syntax, whether it be Ameri-can Sign Language, Chinese Sign Language, or Italian Sign Language.

The Italian Deaf community has la-bored for years to convince the gov-ernment to recognize Italian Sign Language (Lingua dei Segni Itali-ana, or LIS) as an official language. They were able to successfully bring a bill to the Italian Senate, but their moment of near-triumph was also where things took a heartbreaking turn. The bill was approved, with LIS retitled as “Language of Mime and Gestures,” or LMG.

To demote LIS and label it a farcical method of com-munication is ignorance, at best. At worst, it is modern-day colonialism; an attempt of the majority to subjugate a minority. Hearing doctors, speech therapists, and teachers have been telling Deaf people for years that we must learn to speak—we must integrate with the majority. And yet, time and time again,we have stated that we are proud to be who we are, a people of the eye. For decades, our voice has been drowned out by the of the majority, and those who think they know better.

As a recent commentator on the LIS/LMG debate stated, if the government going to rename Italian Sign Language to “Language of Mime and Gesture,” they might as well rename spoken Italian to “Language of Moans and Grunts.” Language, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. And as any anthropologist will tell you, language and culture are inseparably entwined. A lan-guage disappears off the face of the earth every two weeks, and along with it, a culture, its customs, and tra-ditions disappear as well. If we start ushering languag-es to the chopping block, we are amputating pieces of our own humanity.

In all of my travels, one thing has reverberated: you can’t stop Deaf people from using sign language. I’ve seen classrooms full of Deaf children in India who are

forced to use only their voices—and yet, as soon as they walk out the door, their delight at using their na-tive sign language is profound. I’ve met Deaf people in Cambodia who were abandoned by their parents, and had no language and no hope—until they were found by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that taught them sign language, and then they blossomed. When I taught in China for 10 months, my Deaf students were thrilled to have a Deaf teacher, because even though we were signing in different languages, we could con-nect more than they ever could with hearing teachers.

Every signer knows this: even though sign lan-guages are different from country to

country, and sometimes region to region—when you meet another Deaf person, often the first question signed is, “Are you deaf? Me too!”

The strongest weapon in life a person has to wield is his/her voice, whether that voice is expressed through spoken, written, or signed language. The cry of the Deaf com-munity in Italy has been heard—there have been protests from Tokyo

to Berlin, from San Francisco to London. But they must also be heard at home in Rome, at the hands of the government who will decide their linguistic and cultural fate.

As Victor Hugo famously said: “What matters deaf-ness of the ears when the mind hears? The one true deafness, the incurable deafness, is that of the mind.” The Italian Deaf community and the global signing com-munity has voiced it’s concerns, it’s plea that we not be diminished, trivialized, and eventually forgotten. I can only hope we will be heard.

Davin B. SearlsExecutive Director1 June, 2011 On behalf of Discovering

Deaf Worlds, I express our soli-darity with the Italian Deaf com-munity in its fight to keep its voice. To support the preserva-tion of LIS, sign the petition at www.petizionionline.it/petizione/

lingua-dei-segni-italiana/848.For more information, visit www.lissubito.com or the

Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/kq4sHs.

Davin Searls

10 Discovering Deaf Worlds

Special Features Include:More stories from Shuktara, Meet Pappu

and DDW: Journeys slideshow

www.discoveringdeafworlds.org/support

Discovering: Shuktara was edited and co-produced by

What is DDW?Discovering Deaf Worlds is a 501(c)(3) non-profit international deaf advocacy or-ganization dedicated to empowering deaf and hard of hearing communities in devel-oping countries. DDW strives to advance the capacity of local deaf communities around the globe to meet their social, edu-cational and employment needs.

For more information, visit:www.discoveringdeafworlds.org.

• Before you head out on your trip, unplug any appliance that won’t be in use while you’re away, such as computers, chargers, televisions, video game players, and microwaves. As much as 10 percent of the electricity used in your home is wasted energy burned by leaving things plugged in when not in use!

• Schedule trips in conjunction with festivals. Not only will you have a unique glimpse into the local culture, but by attending authentic festivals, you are more likely to support the living culture by spending money on food, lodging, and locally-made crafts.

• Pack light! Every additional ten pounds per traveler requires an additional 350 million gallons of jet fuel per year. That’s enough fuel to keep a 747 flying continuously for ten years!

• Instead of relying on bottled water, bring your own bottle. Water-purifying tablets and filters are readily available.

Source: http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/sustainable-travel-tips

Sustainable Travel Tidbits

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

– Lao Tzu

480 print, LLC3446 Old Green Rd.Suite 204Cleveland, Ohio 44122440.781.2773ksbain@roadrunner.com

June 2011 11

On April 27, DDW hosted its first annual benefit to recognize Anita Pelletier and Michael Cooney of Nixon Pea-body LLP as DDW’s 2010 Service Providers of the Year. With over 200 attendees and 18 sponsors, the benefit was a tremendous success! Special thanks to PEN-International, LSF Study Abroad at University of Rochester, and The Patrick J. Martin Foundation for your support. DDW is already looking forward to next year’s event!

DDW’s first annual benefit:Celebrating a year of success!

DDW International Program Director Dave Justice with DDW board member Stacey Miller.

An even mix of 200 Deaf and hearing people gathered at ONE Lounge for DDW’s first annual benefit.

Master of Ceremonies Davin Searls gives away door prizes with DDW Associate Shana Gibbs.

Nixon Peabody Associate Anita Pelletier, DDW Board President Harold Mowl,

and DDW Executive Director Davin Searls.

To see more pictures, please “like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DiscoveringDeafWorlds.

DDW’s 2010 Service Provider of the Year