Activity Report > June - September 2004 June to September 2004, Activity report From "Family Care" Coimbatore, South India Regular Classes in 5cities by our Deaf Instructors: Our deaf instructors continue to impart their training to other deaf in 5 cities of Tamilnadu and Kerala. The Leaders in these cities are venturing out to establish smaller groups in other towns. Teach others to teach others is our motto. Workshop on Sales and Marketing, Planning and Fund-raising: Family Care conducted various workshops and learning sessions for the full time instructors throughout the months of June and July giving them various input on fundraising techniques and marketing strategies to help them to be more confident in their self-employment programme. We also had some planning time to chart out an agenda for the International Week for the Deaf Programmes. Family Care has been involved in conducting the International Week for the Deaf Celebrations for the last six years. Our goals through these are to provide special activities and opportunities that the deaf otherwise would not have, create an awareness in the community about deaf people and their needs and expose their talents and capabilities. THE 47TH INTERNATIONAL WEEK FOR THE DEAF CELEBRATIONS CONDUCTED BY "FAMILY CARE", COIMBATORE As Coimbatore district has 7 schools dedicated to the education for deaf children, our organization seeks all opportunities to work closely with all of those schools in the district. And the International Week for the Deaf programmes is one such occasion. On the 25th of August, we were able to organize an inter school competition for all those schools. A month earlier we had sent a circular to all the schools asking them to participate in a Science and Handicrafts exhibition as well as a Fancy dress competition for all deaf students. This effort was so well appreciated that about 200 deaf students participated in the various events that day. The opening ceremony of the "International Week for the deaf" celebrations by "Family Care" was held at "Star Special School", Singanallur, Coimbatore on 25th of August , 2004 at 11:30 a.m. The Science exhibition was conducted for the first time in the city and so was very well appreciated and all the students as well as teachers showed equal enthusiasm. The inauguration of the Science Exhibition & Handicrafts exhibition by deaf children was done by I.G. Police Mr. Subramaniam, Mr. Robert Karunakaran, Corporation Education Officer & Junior Rehabilitation officer, Mr. Paramasivam, were also present. The deaf children prepared laborious exhibits to explain solar heating, traffic signals & rules, evolution of communication system, the working of a computer, heart and many more. The handicrafts consisted of furry toys, beautiful wall hangings made simple and easy-available material, floor mats made of left-over pieces of cloth. Doilies made out of polythene, pencil holders out of ice-cream sticks, eco-friendly paper bags & many other interesting & impressive items. The children were very encouraged by the response that hey received. After lunch, A Fancy dress competition was held and the children came out with innovative dress-up ideas-"Cigarette" with a no-smoking warning, earthworm, a tribal, a goddess & many original concepts which posed a challenge to the judges. A lot could be said through the performance of the children in all the different events from the beginning to the end, about the commitment & dedication of all the teachers of the deaf from various institutions . It was very touching to see all these deaf children come together and interact in such a manner and at the end of the day the deaf students went home with unforgettable memories. 31ST August, 2004 - Seminar for Teachers of deaf, "Making a Lasting Impression" Family Care conducted the second event on the agenda of the International Week for the Deaf Programmes on 31st of August, 2004---a seminar with a difference for teachers of deaf named, "Making a Lasting Impression" and a seminar for deaf women at Hotel Heritage Inn. 30 Teachers from 6 deaf schools in Coimbatore and Tiruppur attended the one-day Seminar and were exposed to true life stories of various personalities in the world who are well-known today because of a "somebody" that "believed" in them and helped them to succeed in life. The teachers were surprised to find that "Albert was one of the dull students in his class and that his parents thought that he was abnormal! This Albert was none other than Albert Einstein.! Winston Churchill, Enrico Caruso and many others were considered failures and misfits in their schools because of various handicaps. But today the whole world has heard about them! Project Co-Ordinator, Renuka Rameshan gave a brief introduction to "Family Care" and then a pantomime show by a team of young deaf instructors called "Happy Hearts" who conveyed the above-mentioned stories in the form of skits. The whole presentation was done by the deaf Trainees of "Family Care" for the teachers to bring out the principle of "student-teacher interaction"! The teachers also were given an opportunity to watch a Chinese movie called "Not one less" with English sub-titles which is a true story of a 13-year old girl who took up the job of a teacher's aide in a poor village school and faced and overcame many obstacles and through them drew closer to her students and helped the school to get recognized by the city and gain support from the moneyed people, thereby enabling many little children to get education. The Seminar ended with games for the teachers which helped them interact with each other and the deaf people present there. Certificates were given by Mrs. S. Jonsson, Family Care, who is a teacher, educator and a proficient home-schooler. One of the main goals of Family Care in conducting this workshop for teachers is to honor them for their dedication in taking up the challenge to teach "deaf" children and to also encourage them to continue to meet the challenge with a renewed vision. Many teachers commented that they forgot that they were teachers for a while and had a very pleasant break stepping back from class room scenario and looking at it from a different viewpoint! Seminar for adult deaf women at Coimbatore: The Seminar for deaf women consisted of a pantomime show by deaf women Counselors of "Family Care", covering various concepts of health and hygiene and the role of a woman in a family and the society in general and parenthood etc., Many parents of young deaf women also witnessed the whole programme and were convinced that their children need such education in order to come out of the shell that the society puts them in----- being deaf and a woman! About 50 deaf women participated in this event. Leadership Training Seminar for the deaf - Madurai Family Care also takes the opportunity of the International Week for the Deaf to train young deaf leaders in other cities. A team of 10 deaf people traveled to Madurai, a city about 5 hours away to conduct this one-day workshop. The Seminar consisted of classes such as "ANGER ---one letter short of DANGER"! teaching the deaf in general how to have more patience and control anger and at the same time learn to communicate in a deep manner and thereby vent out their frustrations. There was also another class that brought out the aspect of positive ness in life. Different skits were performed to help everybody look on the bright side of life! Games and group discussions were organized to reinforce the concepts taught. About 150 deaf participated from 6 towns around Madurai. Signed by: Vilhjalmur Jonsson Celebration 1: Mr. Vilhjalmur Jonsson, Project coordinator, posing with some of the deaf children having the lunch served. Celebration 2: Mr. Daniel (left) and Mr. Vilhjalmur with chief guest Mr. Subramanian, Inspector General of Police, Coimbatore district, inspecting the Science Exhibition displayed by the deaf children. Celebration 3: Our guest of honor, Mr. Subramanian, Inspector general of Police receives a bouquet of flowers from Tanya Jonsson, 8 years old. Celebration 4: Deaf students perform a classical Indian dance for the guests. Celebration 5: Our aim is to make these deaf children to be the leaders of tomorrow Women seminar: Our pantomime troupe of the deaf, "Happy hearts" performs at the seminar for deaf women at Coimbatore. Teachers seminar 1: Teachers receive certificates from Mrs. Jonsson and Mrs, Renu for completing a seminar on teaching the deaf, titled "Making a lasting impression". Teachers Seminar 2: Kanagaraj (deaf instructor) and Renu, Project coordinator, delivering home the contents of the teachers training seminar at Coimbatore. Madurai seminar 1: A responsive crowd of both boys and girls at the city of Madurai was enthused by this seminar on do's and don'ts in communications. Madurai seminar 2: A skit is always a good way to bring a cross a message clearly. Here are the deaf instructors putting forth a message in a skit at the seminar at Madurai. Madurai seminar 3: Our deaf instructors at seminar at Madurai doing a skit. " Anger, one letter short of danger" a point brought out on positive ways of communicating.