The thought of using my ASL skills was a thought that never occurred in my head for this trip until a few weeks ago.
One of the other interns, Ken, at World Relief has a girlfriend here in Fort Worth. Soon after talking with her,Jenn, I discovered her passion for ASL and the deaf community. She has a deaf sister and it seems that her passion started from that. She works in the mission department of a church her in Fort Worth.
The next thing I know, I am helping her teach ASL to deaf refugees at Ladera, the apartments I'm staying at with most of the resettled refugees. There is also another guy named Kurt helping on Wednesdays that God has also brought along. So the three of us,along with Ken, teach ASL to some deaf Nepali people on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6-7:30pm. When we first all met up and lead the first successful class, afterwards we stood around and reveled in how great God is in bringing us all together like this without knowing each other before.
At first there were just three deaf Nepali guys, all middle aged or older. Then we discovered that two of them had wives who are also deaf. A big challenge is trying to get them all there at the same time where we meet in the World Relief clubhouse. We have decided to start getting there earlier so we can go and gather them together from their apartments. I had also discovered a Burmese girl that was deaf that had come to a play day for kids that a church youth group had put together. I kept trying to figure out where she lives to go and get her but I couldn't. Then one day she showed up with her family at the clubhouse for English class, but I couldn't be there to teach with Jenn that night. I called Jenn and told her to snag her when she gets there. Jenn let me know later that the girl did go to ASL with her and even seemed to pick a lot up and enjoy it. But since I've been there, she hasn't been back. Hopefully, we can find her again soon. Although, a new Nepali woman has been coming that's rather young looking. She has a walking impairment, but she is incredibly intelligent. She already knew quite a bit ASL her first time in the class. We were so surprised!
Overall, the classes have been fairly successful. Of course we have to use lots of visuals, but they seem to be catching on. The topics we have covered so far have been the alphabet, fruits, vegetables, colors, describing words (man, boy, woman, girl, tall, short...etc.),clothes, and names. I think they may be catching on to question words like who, what color, and which. On two occasions we have even had conversations about Jesus. Only through God could we have accomplished that. They seem to know a lot about the gospel even though they are all Hindu. I think one of them may be a believer, but its hard to tell. I pray that one day they can move on to sentences, but that is a very long way off and I won't be here.
It was sad to hear that these deaf refugees are a burden to people around here. The Nepali signs that they use are mostly gestures that are universal, so their skills of communicating, even with other Nepalis are limited. This is very big investment and I pray that Jenn and the others can fully accomplish this very difficult task that God has set before them.
~Meliah
An informal and mostly personal blog. I am a Public Relations major, so I hope to use this more to practice writing, but that won't stop me from posting about my feelings and in a sometimes grammatically incorrect manner. :3
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Summer Mission Trip Ft Worth: Match Grant
Match Grant
...self proclaimed "best" department of World Relief- Ft. Worth office.
These people are really fun to work with once you get to know them.
Andrea Frick- program manager and my boss. She is just a really fun person that can be a bit sarcastic. I love her style of clothing and she always looks super cute. For a long time my task for her was trying to find a puppy online for her to adopt. Andrea recently graduated from UT-A with a Masters of Sociology. She also took a very difficult test and became licensed for social work practices. Most of the time we talk about make-up or girl stuff and puppies. We actually spent a lot of time trying to find a puppy for her to adopt. Last week she found one and now has a shepard mix named Gypsy! She is sooo cute! But besides the puppy business, she is actually a very focused and stern worker. She has a heart for serving and knows exactly how to work with the refugees and what to say to them. They usually trust her completely.
Robert Ortiz- Employment Specialist. Super sarcastic and a joker, but a really great guy. Engaged to a woman named Elise, whom I will soon meet. He works in Match by finding jobs for the clients. Basically he is really helpful in getting the refugees self-sufficient because he helps them find their source of income. Even though he can be a prankster, he works hard advocating for refugees to employers trying to get them good steady jobs.
Bethany Toland- Married to Wes Toland who is in the church mobilization department. Bethany is a case worker for Match Grant, but what she is really passionate and trained for is Anti-Human Trafficking. She does sessions with people (like police) in the area to show them the signs of human trafficking and what to look for. She also leads orientations at the Ladera Palms World Relief clubhouse on safety and "stranger danger".
Rajan Biswa- A former Nepali translator that was recently hired on staff as a Match Grant case worker (still used for translations though). A few years ago, Rajan and his family were new refugees that even went through the Match Grant program. His English is almost flawless and he was apparently qualified for such a job like this at World Relief. He is a very sweet man and definitely on fire for God. He admits to not understanding the Bible even though he has read a lot of it. But that's ok, because God is not for the human mind to fully understand. He's also really quiet, but super nice and really smart.
Then there's me...
The first two or so weeks in Match Grant haven't been hard at all. I just come in and they tell me stuff to do for them. Most of it includes putting together case files, filing papers, and writing case notes or entering volunteer logs. I have been on errands and visits, but not by myself yet. I don't know how I feel about driving around here yet and well they don't make me go if I don't feel comfortable with driving. We have weekly Match Grant meetings on Fridays in the morning. The first thing they told me when i joined and at the first meeting is that last year their intern got a tattoo and they paid for it for her. They said they wanted that to be a Match intern tradition, but I have no interest in getting a tattoo. I told them they could dye my hair instead. Immediately, they decided on purple. I was ok with it until I realized and someone told me that I'd have to bleach my hair even more to get the color purple that would look cool. And that would kill my hair which is already damaged enough as it is. Christina the volunteer coordinator came into Match just to be my hair consultant. She says its not a good idea for my hair at this time, but when I suggested black with purple she ok-ed it. So I think that's whats been decided is black with a purple chunk or streaks.
We'll see...
It may seem like all we do is goof-off, but that's not it at all. These people are on fire for God and have a huge heart for missions and refugees. They do soooo much for them.That's all really to say about Match Grant...except that it is pretty dang awesome.
~Meliah~
...self proclaimed "best" department of World Relief- Ft. Worth office.
These people are really fun to work with once you get to know them.
Andrea Frick- program manager and my boss. She is just a really fun person that can be a bit sarcastic. I love her style of clothing and she always looks super cute. For a long time my task for her was trying to find a puppy online for her to adopt. Andrea recently graduated from UT-A with a Masters of Sociology. She also took a very difficult test and became licensed for social work practices. Most of the time we talk about make-up or girl stuff and puppies. We actually spent a lot of time trying to find a puppy for her to adopt. Last week she found one and now has a shepard mix named Gypsy! She is sooo cute! But besides the puppy business, she is actually a very focused and stern worker. She has a heart for serving and knows exactly how to work with the refugees and what to say to them. They usually trust her completely.
Robert Ortiz- Employment Specialist. Super sarcastic and a joker, but a really great guy. Engaged to a woman named Elise, whom I will soon meet. He works in Match by finding jobs for the clients. Basically he is really helpful in getting the refugees self-sufficient because he helps them find their source of income. Even though he can be a prankster, he works hard advocating for refugees to employers trying to get them good steady jobs.
Bethany Toland- Married to Wes Toland who is in the church mobilization department. Bethany is a case worker for Match Grant, but what she is really passionate and trained for is Anti-Human Trafficking. She does sessions with people (like police) in the area to show them the signs of human trafficking and what to look for. She also leads orientations at the Ladera Palms World Relief clubhouse on safety and "stranger danger".
Rajan Biswa- A former Nepali translator that was recently hired on staff as a Match Grant case worker (still used for translations though). A few years ago, Rajan and his family were new refugees that even went through the Match Grant program. His English is almost flawless and he was apparently qualified for such a job like this at World Relief. He is a very sweet man and definitely on fire for God. He admits to not understanding the Bible even though he has read a lot of it. But that's ok, because God is not for the human mind to fully understand. He's also really quiet, but super nice and really smart.
Then there's me...
The first two or so weeks in Match Grant haven't been hard at all. I just come in and they tell me stuff to do for them. Most of it includes putting together case files, filing papers, and writing case notes or entering volunteer logs. I have been on errands and visits, but not by myself yet. I don't know how I feel about driving around here yet and well they don't make me go if I don't feel comfortable with driving. We have weekly Match Grant meetings on Fridays in the morning. The first thing they told me when i joined and at the first meeting is that last year their intern got a tattoo and they paid for it for her. They said they wanted that to be a Match intern tradition, but I have no interest in getting a tattoo. I told them they could dye my hair instead. Immediately, they decided on purple. I was ok with it until I realized and someone told me that I'd have to bleach my hair even more to get the color purple that would look cool. And that would kill my hair which is already damaged enough as it is. Christina the volunteer coordinator came into Match just to be my hair consultant. She says its not a good idea for my hair at this time, but when I suggested black with purple she ok-ed it. So I think that's whats been decided is black with a purple chunk or streaks.
We'll see...
It may seem like all we do is goof-off, but that's not it at all. These people are on fire for God and have a huge heart for missions and refugees. They do soooo much for them.That's all really to say about Match Grant...except that it is pretty dang awesome.
~Meliah~
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