Area UMCs help lead global Missions Conference of the Deaf
By Roy White*
Two events in Kenya this past summer played a key role in Deaf United Methodist community: our Kenya Deaf Mission trip, and the 3rd Global Methodist Missions Conference of the Deaf.
To prepare for our mission, Dan Kenyon, Carrie White and I attended five planning meetings at Magothy UMC of the Deaf in Pasadena, and in Orems UMC.
Together with eight others, we prepared two Bible stories that would be done in storytelling, drama and crafts for two Methodist Deaf schools. The participants also brought donated school supplies and sport items as well as money from their home churches. All the items were packed in luggage called “God Bags.”
On July 24, we, along with five other team members from around the United States, checked in for an overnight stay at Comfort Inn near Dulles Airport for our final planning meeting.
After arriving in Africa, we rode in safari vans for a 4-hour drive north to Meru where Kaaga School for the Deaf and Kaaga Methodist Church were located. We checked in at the Methodist Bio-Intensive Agriculture Training Center in Meru for room and board. All the meals were prepared from their garden and livestock.
Over the next four days, we divided into two teams to do a 2-day Bible storytelling and role-playing at each school. While Dan and Carrie’s team taught about Moses and the 10 Commandments at Kaaga School for the Deaf with 166 students on Monday and Tuesday, I was with the second team teaching the Good Samaritan story at Njia Special School in Maua, about a 45-minute drive away. This school has about 140 students, of which 93 are Deaf and the rest are mentally challenged and physically disabled. On Wednesday and Thursday, the teams switched to other schools.
At both schools, the children eagerly introduced themselves by fingerspelling and signing their names; all were very enthusiastic being involved in role-playing the Bible lessons.
Farewell ceremonies were held at both schools on Friday, August 2. Team members presented God Bags, and the schools gave each team member a gift. Also, each school was given $3,000 to buy a commercial washing machine. (For years, the housemothers and students have done all their laundry by hand and lay their clothes on stone fences and big rocks to dry.) After getting to know so many of these children and teachers, leaving them was heartbreaking for all of us.
The next week, we returned to the Methodist Guest House in Nairobi to attend the 3rd Global Methodist Missions Conference of the Deaf. The theme was “The right time is now, change and believe the good news.”(Mark 1:15)
About 140 people came from America, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ghana and Burundi. During every presentation, sign language interpreting of different languages was done simultaneously. For example, as every presentation was voice interpreted in English, the interpreter for each country interprets in his or her native sign language. The participants from each country signed their songs for others to follow.
The program over the next three days included reports about education of the Deaf in Kenya and the need for a better Kenya Sign Language training program. I gave a short presentation about the Deaf Fellowship Ministry of Emmanuel UMC while Dan led the first morning’s devotion with a brief sermon and also gave a talk about the United Methodist Congress of the Deaf, of which he is president.
This conference was wonderful in that Deaf people from many different countries shared their stories that may be useful to other Deaf ministries and missions. They had a great time signing songs and praising God together. Every person there was the same; yet different sign languages never prevented them from communicating with each other.
Returning to the States turned out to be challenging, yet God was with our team. The Aug. 9 departure was the first day that Nairobi airport opened, two days after a major fire occurred there. Our team was stuck there for eight hours; our flight was delayed four hours. Thus, we missed our connecting flight at Addis Abba, Ethiopia, by 40 minutes. We thought we would stay only one day but ended up staying two days due to miscommunications with the hotel, airlines, and airport staffs.
During our brief stay in Ethiopia, many of the team members took advantage by visiting churches, the Haile Selassie Museum, and other places. The whole USA team was relieved when we finally returned home on Aug. 12 after a long flight.
*Roy White is a member of Emmanuel UMCin Beltsville, where he has chaired the Deaf Ministry Fellowship.
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