| "In the entire history of Honduras, only 25 Deaf persons have ever graduated from high school. At Manos Felices (Happy Hands) Christian School for Deaf Children, we're trying to change that statistic." Christy Owens, director of New Life Deaf Ministry in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. |
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| Opening in February 2003, Manos Felices, embarked on a mission to raise a generation of Deaf Christians through education and spiritual guidance. The school began in a home with a Pre-K class of five children. Their teacher was Shirley Venis, the only Deaf person to have a teaching certificate in Honduras. |
| As my family and I visited for a Manos Felices Board of Directors meeting during the last week of July, we saw 40 children in Pre-K to First Grade. There are also eight teachers, one of whom has Usher's Syndrome, a condition of Deaf-Blindness. The school meets in a rented building near the shadows of the National Soccer Stadium. My Deaf son, Christian, age 4, watched intently as the children and teachers used LESHO, Lengua de Senas de Honduras (Honduran Sign Language). By the end of the week, he was signing "papa" and "mama" in LESHO. | | The need for Deaf Hondurans to learn LESHO became evident in the early 1990's when Ms. Owens first visited Tegucigalpa with World Gospel Outreach. In trying to communicate the Gospel among the Deaf, Christy realized that many had little or no language skills. In 1996, New Life Deaf Church had started with a few young Deaf adults, including Ms. Venis. During one visit, Ms. Owens quickly realized the need for Scriptural literacy when one gave an impromptu sermon on, "There are no dinosaurs because there wasn't room in Noah's Ark." | | Ten years later, New Life Deaf Church has a part-time pastor, Melvin Lazo, a USA college-trained young Deaf Honduran. The Deaf leaders are all in their late-twenties, except one man, Enrique, age 47. (The older Deaf are the missing generation because they have not experienced a Deaf community which arises from sharing a language in church and in school). On the two Sundays that my family and I worshiped at New Life Deaf Church, Melvin signed his sermon based on 2 Corinthians 5:17, on becoming a new person in Christ. I, like most of the other Deaf Hondurans and visiting Americans, relied on Melvin's vivid gestures, alongside formal signs in LESHO, to understand his message. A LESHO interpreter spoke Spanish for the hearing locals. | | On July 27, my family and I, along with New Life Deaf Ministry Board members, visited Gustavo's home, a one-hour jarring bus ride from Happy Hands. Five years old and a student at Happy Hands, Gustavo began learning LESHO a year ago. His mother told us through our Spanish-English and LESHO-ASL interpreters, that Gustavo can now express what he needs, such as signing "agua", rather than pointing to a glass for a drink. In a country where the average wage is $2 a day, Gustavo's mother pays only $4 of the $100 monthly tuition fee at Happy Hands. "I hope my son can become a teacher. He is already teaching me sign language." | | As we learned the needs of the teachers, parents, students, leaders and interpreters of Manos Felices and New Life Deaf Church, I was amazed by their spiritual maturity and love. I thank the generosity of Lovers Lane that allowed my family to be an encouragement to these Deaf and hearing Hondurans. They strive daily against a culture of indifference and ignorance. | | Grace and peace, Tom Hudspeth | |
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