PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Scared, withdrawn, and self-conscious. That is how the deaf children, and for a while the adults as well, start coming to the group. They live in their own world. They are neither understood nor accepted by their families and their environment. The mostly very poor families do not understand this handicap and do not know how to deal with it. For the child development being deaf also means to be speechless.
“CAIS” stands for “Center for holistic help for the deaf” and is part of the social work of the Convenção Batista Pioneira, the partner convent of EBM INTERNATIONAL in Brazil.
The deaf learn to communicate with sign language in the CAIS project. The zeal and the love of the mostly voluntary staff is extraordinary. They achieve remarkable things. The team had to write a lot of their own curriculum since there is hardly any specific material existing for this kind of work.
In art projects the deaf are instructed to create something themselves. They are being tutored and they do many activities. They started a “Help Center For Children And Youth” where they invite children that are able to hear but whose parents are deaf. They too have problems at school since their parents cannot help them with their studies at home. The project “Home of culture for the deaf” offers devotions, educational talks, trial lessons for groups for theater, physical work activities, and many community offers for deaf adults. They are also being supported in a vocational training and are helped being integrated into the job market.
The self-confidence of the deaf is constantly growing. Helping the families brings many blessings. They are being trained and instructed. The parents of deaf children are extremely grateful for this big help. They trust the staff and the local church very much. Some families have joined the church already.
With the help of the CAIS project, some deaf children and youth have been able to reconnect with “our world”. This has changed their lives radically!
