Madrid, Spain [Taida Herrera, CD EUDNews]. February 9, 2015.
"Every night as I fall asleep, my breathing penetrates my entire body, I feel my heart pumping blood throughout my being and every night I go to sleep surrounded by silence, this occurs every moment, every second of my life!
It's strange to speak of silence when I don't even know the meaning of the absence of noise. I say this because since I was born, I have never been able to hear!
I am Deaf*. I was born Deaf and will probably die Deaf. But there is something you need to understand: being Deaf does not mean being ignorant, quite the contrary. I understand the world around me through my eyes. Every day I see different faces. Faces that sometimes show excitement and sometimes disappointment. These faces help me understand. Faces radiating joy at the birth of a baby; faces of anguish not knowing if tomorrow they will have a job; faces of despair at not being able to put a meal on the table. Being born deaf makes a person more sensitive!
It's so difficult to be understood, trying to express myself yet nobody understands. But something motivates me to continue: my children. Being Deaf has not stopped me from getting married and raising a family, although we do not communicate like other families, we talk, but we do it quietly and with our hands!
There are times when this silence is frustrating, there are so many barriers in society, even in our Church, that inadvertently and unknowingly obstructs my knowledge of the Creator!
I thank God to have helped open the eyes of many people, including my children, especially my youngest daughter, she has seen the limitations Deaf People have in our churches every Sabbath. It's sad to see those who live in a world of silence, being desperate to know the gospel despite many barriers. It is so sad to want to know more and yet not being able to! Everyday we ask God to open eyes, not ears but eyes! Because our Sign Language is visual!
It is our language, our culture, we cannot spend hours reading because, often, we don't understand what we read. In my case, I wasn't taught to read or write. Therefore, reading the Bible in the twenty-first century has been impossible for me. However, God has put people in my church with special gifts to help me meet my Saviour!
I just hope that when my Creator comes looking for me to take me home to heaven, many others who are Deaf will be with me, and together we will experience the miracle God performed in us and in the churches that helped us understand His message!
Dozens of Deaf People need you to open your eyes and your hands and help them know Jesus! “Two Eyes” to understand, that is what we need. The Ministry of the Deaf has taken up the challenge to open your eyes!" (Inspired by the memory of my mother, Maria Herrera Garcia. Taida Lucia Rivero Herrera, Director of Ministry of Deaf UAE, Spanish Union of Seventh-Day Adventists)!
The Adventist Deaf Ministries
Estimates of the number of Deaf in the world are difficult to substantiate. Reports range from 93 million to more than 300 million, although it’s likely that those termed “hard of hearing” are being included. According to Deaf World Ministries, if the Deaf “were gathered together in one place they would comprise the fourth-largest nation in the world.”Suffice it to say, there’s a large international population of Deaf.
Regardless of whether we are deaf or not, the basic principle behind the Adventist Deaf Ministry is that we are all created in the image of God and that we can find ultimate wholeness, restoration, fulfillment and hope only in Him. We strongly believe that the Deaf have an active part to play in the final sharing of the “everlasting gospel” (Revelation 14:6,7).
To learn more about this fundamental ministry, please connect here.
(*Deaf, is capitalized when referring to the person using sign language! )
Picture: Taida Lucia Rivero Herrera, Director of Ministry of Deaf UAE, Spanish Union of Seventh-Day Adventists.