Summer Mission Trip Fort Worth: ASL to Deaf Refugees

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