September 2007 �

Volume � Issue 2

September 2007

Note: DDW received the below open letter from Bhutan, and felt it perfectly captures the essence of DDW’s goals.

Hello Dave and Christy,

I heard about your DDW project from [DeafIn-ternational]. Kudos for coming up with such a mean-ingful project! I’m from the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and would very much like for you to meet my elder sister, Choki.

She was born deaf and has lived in Bhutan all her life. She is now in her early 30s. Because Bhutan does not have an official sign language, my family came up with a sign language of our own to communicate with her. Choki does not know or has [not] met any other deaf individuals. Bhutan did not have any deaf schools at that time so Choki was not able to get an education. It is my dream to start a school for the deaf

in Bhutan and a project to help the illiterate deaf.I’m so happy to learn that the first deaf school in

Bhutan will be complete in November 2007 and cur-rently has 28 students. Now children will actually have a chance at life and won’t have to live through the same experiences my sister, Choki. How wonder-ful it is to know that these kids will actually have a

Kuzuzangpo from a Bhutanese!

What is DDW?

The above letter from Bhutan represents why the Discovering Deaf Worlds proj-ect exists. Dave and Christy are traveling the world to learn and share stories of em-powerment, inspiration, and connection between international Deaf communities. DDW is an opportunity to give deaf people worldwide a voice. For more information, photos, video logs, and newsletter stories, visit www.discoveringdeafworlds.com.

A Letter from Bhutan, continued on page 5

www.discoveringdeafworlds.com

On Oct. 23, 2007, Dave and Christy

begin their journeys by departing from Los Angeles, CA, to

Christchurch, New Zealand!

Ch

rist

church, New Zealand

• Discovering Deaf W

orld

s • NZ

This article is no longer available.

This article is no longer available.

2 Discovering Deaf Worlds

Discovering Deaf Worlds

Kick-Off Event at Rowe Photo When: Saturday,October6,2007 11:00A.M.–2:00P.M.

Where: RowePhoto,Buckman’sPlaza www.rowephoto.com 2590WestRidgeRoad Rochester,NY

ComehearthestoriesofDeafnativesfromEurope,India,Africa,Asia,andelsewhere!WinamonthoffreeAfricanDrumandDanceclassesfromBushmangoasoneofseveraldoorprizes!

Interpreters will be available and refreshments will be provided.

Join in the celebration of sending Dave and Christy off on their Around the World tour!

Contactinfo@discoveringdeafworlds.comfordetails.

••

A huge hearty thank you to:

John, Sheila, Nicolaas, Julianne, and Caitlin Justice: we are blown away by your generosity in keeping our dream alive!

Mike Marino of SpeeCo: thank you for your incredible support and believing in us!

Shout-Outs!Shout-Outs!Shout-Outs!Help Us Reach Our Goal!

Donate online at

www.discoveringdeafworlds.com

Artwork by Yolanda Mosher, Portland, OR, 2007

September 2007 �

By Shira GrabelskyGuest Writer

One day I packed up my bags and flew to New Zea-land to work on farms. I didn’t spin a globe and blind-ly pick New Zealand; it was nothing romantic like that - I’d just heard it was beau-tiful, so I decided to go. I joined World Wide Oppor-tunities On Organic Farms (WWOOF), also known as Willing Workers On Or-ganic Farms, by paying a measly $40 for membership, and getting so much in return.

I did not grow up on farms, or any swath of land near a farm. However, I wanted to connect with a part of myself that yearned to do physical labor to support self-sustainability and to learn organic growing tech-niques. With only the internet and a little green WWOOF book to guide me, I set off on a bus through the North Island. Eventually, I made my way south and ended up back in Auckland two and a half months later.

Between March and May of 2005, I built a house, harvested rhubarb, trimmed garlic, cleaned a pumpkin patch, picked pears, mowed lawns, cooked apple cakes, painted a roof, removed strangler vines, and was engaged in many more other satis-fying jobs. I slept on the floor of a tiny makeshift home, in trailers, in my own cottage, showered outside, bathed in a coal-heated claw bath-tub, or didn’t shower at all. I cooked ramen, drank wine, picked fresh let-tuce and eggs for my lunch, tasted the delicious kumara and casimiroa.

I woke up in the wee hours on some mornings, sidestepped cow dung and picked delectable mushrooms with a 92-year-old man.

I traveled mostly by bus, stop-ping in cities and towns that lay in between farm locales. I made ev-ery cent of my bus pass carry me to the next location. I designed an almost “figure-eight” traveling itinerary throughout the country and stopped where I pleased. In be-tween farm stays, I climbed the Fox Glacier, hiked in the Abel Tasman National Park, sea kayaked in fjord-land, carved a jade necklace, got an ear piercing, volunteered at a Deaf youth camp, skydived, and ate os-trich meat.

During my travels, my reading list accumulated and my journal thickened with exciting commen-taries, a few recipes shared by my hosts, and learnings about planting, harvesting, and permaculture. Per-maculture (permanent agriculture) is the agricultural practice that uti-lizes environmental resources that are readily available, mimicking the natural structures and relationships that exist. Permaculture farms are designed for everything to have a

symbiotic relationship with one another. For example, a portable chicken home will be set up so chickens can eat the grass and weeds on which they live and thus fertilize it, and be moved when the next batch of grass needs the help of chick-ens. Permaculture design fo-cuses on integrating different elements in the environment, sustainable living through conserving energy, and mini-mizing waste.

I so enjoyed my experience that I extended my stay for another week and a half to experience at least one more farm…at least one more out of the hundreds listed in the little green book. This book was replete with resources and fun. It helped me connect to my roots, roots that were detached from me for so long, perhaps because they were in-accessible in the environs in which I grew up. Now that I am back in the states, and remaining in one place, at least for the upcoming year, I’m determined to make sure my roots keep growing strong by starting a garden and leading a self-sustain-able lifestyle wherever possible.

Join the organic growing move-ment, log onto www.wwoof.org, and get out on the land.

Shira Grabelsky is a native New Yorker with wanderlust, having moved from place to place, for theatre, work, school, and fun. She believes there is exchange in any size, shape, or form, to be had anywhere you go. She hopes to combine her lifelong learning and for-mal education to encourage community building though experiential educa-tion and art. Shira currently resides in Boston.

A Willing Worker

Shira Grabelsky in New Zealand

� Discovering Deaf Worlds

A Thank You to Our Sponsors

The Next Generation of WebSitesTake charge of your site

Your website is your brand. It’s you,Your company, appearing in the landscape…

Take charge today!www.sitebrandbuilder.com

Ralph P. DeStephano

New Zealand Sign Language Alphabet

For more information on New Zealand sign language, visit http://nzsign.co.nz

In each issue, DDW will post the fingerspelled alphabet of a visited country.

September 2007 �

future to look forward to. However, they are still try-ing to develop a sign language with help from a private school in Thailand and CBM International.

For years I have wished that I were born deaf in my family instead of my sister. I have felt guilty indulg-ing myself in an interesting book when Choki couldn’t read. Choki wanted to be able to read and write, to go to school just like I and my siblings did, and then to go to work, to have relationships, to travel, to learn about other cultures, to make friends from other cultures - all of which I have been able to do myself and of which she has been deprived.

My sister is dependent on my mother from buying groceries to her toiletries. Because the general pub-lic have so little knowledge and awareness of the deaf population, they don’t know how to communicate with hearing impaired. Please remember that Bhutan is still a very new country. We’ve been in self-isolation till the 1970s. It has just opened up to the world – as recently as 1999. Therefore, people are still very superstitious and their views strongly veered by these preconceived ideas/beliefs.

My sister has been pitied by other people her whole life for being born deaf. I have seen experienced the pain of being on the receiving end of the unnecessary and undesired pity since I was little. People pity her for what “she must have done in her past life to evoke

this life of disability upon herself.” I think that comes from the country being a Buddhist country and believ-ing in “Karma” or poetic justice - “if you’re bad in this life, you’ll have to suffer the consequences in your next life.” Of course, that’s a misinterpretation of the actual “Karma” but that belief is rampant in the society.

People in rural Bhutan have never heard of schools for the deaf - have never met another deaf person who is independent and able to lead their own lives they way they want. They mostly end up as farmers or workers for farmers sometimes ridiculed and other times pitied for their disability. And this is the blanket that I am trying to uncover, the shade that I am trying to draw open, the superstitions that I am trying to wash off. I desperately want to convince my people that there is nothing wrong in being deaf - or for that matter for having any kind of disability. Every person deserves respect and the right to live without being pitied. And every person deserves an opportunity to live their lives independently if they choose to.

I hope that you would visit Bhutan. I think it would be really refreshing for Choki to meet someone who understands her world.

Tashi Delek!Tshering

For more information, e-mail Tshering at empowerdeaf@gmail.com.

A Letter from Bhutan, continued from front page

Publicationservicesprovidedby:

T.S. Writing Services

www.tswriting.com

How do I get home?! If you are in a country where you do not know the language, ask the hotel/hostel front desk for a picture postcard of the hotel or hostel building. Also ask them to write “Please take me to this hotel” on the back of the postcard in the local language. That way, if you get hopelessly lost, you can simply hand the postcard to a taxi driver and get home quickly.

Don’t leave home without it! Duct tape comes in handy for so many things when traveling: fixing a tent pole, a makeshift Band-Aid, keeping the sole of your shoe intact, creating a strap/handle to attach a water bottle to your pack, and much more. A compact way to carry duct tape is wrap it around a pencil.

International Travel

Tidbits of the Month

Want a taste of inspiring

visuals from around

the world?

Check out the movie,

Baraka!

www.spiritofbaraka.com/

baraka.asp

This article is no longer available.