Most deaf people are born into hearing families. In Latin America it is rare that family members learn sign language. Hence deaf children grow up isolated from their families, feeling rejected and unloved. Sexual and emotional abuse is common.
The educational system fails most deaf children. Very few become functionally literate. Almost none of the deaf read well enough to read a newspaper or the Bible.
Crime, unemployment, teen-age pregnancy and other social problems are very high among the deaf. Created and loved by God, these people need the transforming power of the Gospel.
We work with another missionary couple, Baldomero and Deisy Pinto. They are deaf Colombians who have a power ministry of evangelism and discipleship.
Together we are using the Alpha Course (click here for more information on Alpha) to explain the basics of the Christian faith to the deaf. We have adopted the content of the course especially for the deaf by using a format with lots of images and visual content, while using very little text. This has served to communicate the meaning to semi-literate deaf people.
We also work in public schools where the government curriculum allows weekly lessons in religion, values, and ethics. God is transforming the lives of deaf people as we share about His love. For many of our students, it is their first contact with any biblical content.
In collaboration with the Colombian Bible Society and the United Bible Societies, we are translating and publishing a new translation of the Bible into basic Spanish for the deaf.
Finally, we support a deaf-led church, where the deaf can experience the power of the Holy Spirit in a community of believers who use Colombian Sign Language.