Deaf Honduras

June 2011
By Rev. Thomas Hudspeth, D.Min.
Consultant to the United Methodist Committee on
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Ministries

Sunday evening, June 26, 2011: Hola from rainy Tegucigalpa, Honduras! Our Lovers Lane Deaf Mission team arrived last Tuesday — the only dangerous part of our trip was a harrowing 20 minute drive to DFW airport at 3 a.m. — a downpour of rain and thunderstorm that delayed our flight one hour. Our connecting flight was in Atlanta and Delta held the flight for us but certainly our bags weren't going to make it. We arrived in Tegucigalpa at 11:15 a.m., cleared customs, and praise the Lord, our bags made it too.

After a quick lunch at our host's home, we changed into our work clothes and went to work at Manos Felices "Happy Hands" Christian School for Deaf Children. We carried in the school supplies that we had collected at Lovers Lane — smiles were seen on the teacher's faces as they walked by our sorting table. (Thank you to the Lovers Lane United Methodist Wesley Prep teachers who remembered our collection boxes when they cleaned up their rooms at the end of their school year). There are 58 children in pre-k to sixth grade, plus two children in the early childhood intervention program. A few of the students have additional disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, or some neurological disorders. This school is the only academic school for Deaf children in Honduras.

On Wednesday morning, our team of eleven arrived at 7:30 a.m. to see the children play and witness their opening activities. The school is based in a former car repair garage, and the playground is in a concrete car bay. Classrooms have been built as the school added a new grade each year. Manos Felices began in 2003 in the executive director's apartment, Christy Owen, who is a graduate from Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches and University of Arkansas. From those original five students in 2003, the school has grown in numbers and regard by the Honduran community. All five of these original students will complete the sixth grade in November. The dream is to start a high school next year, becoming the only Deaf high school in Honduras.

All the children greeted our team with big signs of "hola" on their hands and faces. LESHO is the language taught here — the sign language of Honduras. Adjusting to their signs takes a pause, their sign for "want" is our sign for "shy." The children were very interested in meeting Christian, my son, as he is the same age as the fourth graders at Manos Felices. The kids invited Christian to play, and asked if he was Deaf too. They asked him for his name, and Christian carefully spelled out his name, pausing to change the sign letter for "t" in Honduran sign language because our "t" letter in ASL is offensive in Honduras! (And yes, my sign name, "t over the heart" required a change too!).

After the kids had their morning prayer (led by one of the students), they filed away smartly in their yellow and blue school uniforms to their respective class rooms. We in turn, began building a roof for two new classrooms, moving furniture, and tearing down a temporary wall that would be opened to another class. Four days later, the school has a new roof, cleaned out storage areas (we had a garage sale that my wife, Mary Kay and others on our team enjoyed setting up), and a newly painted and lighted ministry office.

Today, we took food to two of the children's families and saw the very humble homes they live in. The parents are required to learn sign language, and they are proud of their child's progress. One boy, Erick, wants to be a math teacher and another boy wants to be the first Deaf fireman in Honduras.

In the afternoon, we met at sports field at a local Catholic high school for an evangelism ministry hosted by New Life Deaf Church. Yours truly scored his first soccer goal in years! (the first goal I scored was against my own team when I was seven years old!). We took a break from the game to have a devotional, led by a Deaf pastor. The congregation chose to meet on the 4th Sunday of the month at the soccer fields to reach those Deaf who don't come or feel comfortable coming to the Deaf church. We concluded with a prayer for one of the US missionaries at Happy Hands who will begin a fundraiser for the school starting next month: kayaking 4,000 miles from Montana to the Gulf of Mexico, along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Go to www.expedition4education.org to see Andy Bugh's progress.

The Power of God
by Tom Hudspeth

Screw turn by screw turn,
Trowel slap by trowel slap,
In strokes of brush, saw and hammer,
The Living Christ takes up residence
in a Tegucigalpa barrio.

Rising above a muddied, be-fouled creek,
the Living Christ proclaims in signs
the hope of children born of a "different" family
without the sense of hearing, but sensing hunger for language.

In steps unsteadied by breaths not taken in the first moments of life,
children run with joy too deep for words.

In expressions of arched eyebrows and furrowed faces,
children pierce clouds of ignorance —
riding on the hands of their teachers.

the Living Christ lifts another child unto the threshold of grace,
preparing her for the Word to reside in her heart.

Screw turn by screw turn,
Trowel slap by trowel slap,
the Living Christ takes up residence in a new generation of Honduran de Sordos.

Click here to view the slideshow of Deaf Honduras

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