News from the
United Methodist Committee on Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Ministries,
a unit of the General Board of Global Ministries
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In this issue: "Ministry of All Believers" conference, call for award nominations,
Deaf Awareness Week, Africa events, Red Bird report
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“Ministry of All Believers” November 2-5, 2023
The United Methodist Congress of the Deaf, Lovers Lane UMC Deaf Ministry of Dallas, Texas and the United Methodist Committee on Deaf and Hard of Hearing Ministries invites all Deaf, Late Deafened, Deafblind and Hard-of-hearing leaders in Deaf ministry to a national conference in Dallas, Texas this November 2-5, 2023. This event is hosted by the Deaf Ministry of Lovers Lane UMC at Walnut Hill Church, 10066 Marsh Lane, Dallas, Texas 75229.
This event will feature training sessions in Basic and Advanced Certified Lay Servant courses in ASL and workshops on United Methodist Church leadership, Pastoral Care, Global & Local Mission leadership, Finding Your Spiritual Gifts, Demystifying the Bible, and making tamales! A special interpreter workshop is “Weddings, Funerals and Sermons: Interpreting Christian Content.” (CEU’s pending) and is open to any interpreter and student interpreter of ASL.
Registrations and information for lodging, workshops and events are at llumc.org/umcd. Registration is $100. November 2 is a travel day. Workshops are held Friday and Saturday.
Keynote address will be presented by Rev. Dr. Kirk VanGilder, Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy, Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C and ordained elder in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. The Hasenstab & Moylan Awards Banquet for individual and church excellence in Deaf Mission and Evangelism will be presented by Rev. Dr. Gio Arroyo, General Secretary of the Commission on Race and Religion.
Business meetings of the UMCD and jurisdictional UMCD’s will also be held to elect new officers and propose ministry initiatives, including raising funds for the Yatosha Deaf School project in Tanzania Annual Conference. Membership dues are $20 and open to any Christian who supports the ministry and goals of UMCD. Election of officers are limited to those UMCD members who are also members of the United Methodist Church.
The closing worship service on Sunday, November 5, 2023 will remember those in United Methodist Deaf ministry who have died since the last UMCD conference in 2018 and will be livestreamed on https://llumc.org/worship/deaf-fellowship/ .
Scholarships are available. Please contact Rev. Dr. Tom Hudspeth at thudspeth@llumc.org for more information. Deadline to register is October 21, 2023.
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Nominations for the 2023 UMCD Excellence Awards are now open!
Do you know someone who has shown excellence in leadership in Deaf mission and evangelism? Nominate them today! (Deadline is October 7). These are the awards that will be presented at the conference.
(1) Philip Hasenstab Award of Excellence in Deaf Mission and Evangelism
Past recipients:
Peggy Johnson (2014)
Carol Stevens (2016)
LaSander Saunders (2018)
(2) Daniel E. Moylan Award for Church Excellence in Deaf Mission and Evangelism
Past recipients:
Christ Church Deaf UMC, Baltimore, MD (2014)
Lovers Lane UMC Dallas, TX (2016)
Hilltop UMC (and Mutare District UMCs) Zimbabwe (2018)
(3) Deaf Light Awards (new!) Honor someone who has been a "light unto the world” in Deaf mission and evangelism.
Nomination process:
Include
A) the person or ministry being nominated
B) the award you are nominating them for
C) a brief description of the reasons they deserve this award
D) send to umdeaf@gmail.com by October 7
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Deaf Awareness – What’s New?
By Rev. Dr. Leo Yates, Jr.
In the month of September, we are full swing into Deaf Awareness Month, as well as International Deaf Awareness Week during the last week of the month. Historically, these observances offer hearing persons, communities, and organizations insight to Deaf culture, the recognition of accomplishments of Deaf and hard-of-hearing persons, and promote support to people who are deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened, and Deafblind. With there being a plethora of accomplishments documented in Deaf history, we can’t help but wonder what’s new with Deaf awareness?
For one, we can use Deaf awareness to foster individual awareness of hearing privilege among non-deaf persons, an opportunity to share the realities that deaf and hard of hearing persons experience. For instance, hearing persons are usually fully represented in media across different venues and outlets. But this is few and far between for deaf and hard of hearing persons, who likely need captions to follow stories and media posts.
Deaf awareness should include what “Deaf gain” is. Simply explained, Deaf gain is the multitude of ways that Deaf people and society have benefited from Deaf people and sign language, enriching communities with deepening diversity. Seeing the positives in deafness opens up the world to new perspectives.
Sign language often goes hand in hand with Deaf culture. And through that, by studying Deaf culture further, individuals will discover there are subcultures of the Deaf community. Black Deaf culture and Black ASL (BASL) are a prime example, whether learning about this during September or during Black History Month (February) or during both months. Certainly, don’t limit yourself to these months. Some might find interest in how Spanish Sign Language (SSL) and ASL are distinguished.
When it comes to our Christian faith, Paul wrote to the Corinthians how we are to live in unity, emphasizing how the body is made up of many members and that WE NEED EVERYONE, as we all make up the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Celebrating and observing Deaf Awareness Month is just one of many ways to do this. Learning sign language, whether on an app, or better yet by a Deaf or hard of hearing instructor can support one’s learning too. Hosting a Deaf Awareness Sunday special service can be done anytime during the year, but most notably during September.
So, what’s new? You’ll find out when you strike up friendships with Deaf and hard of hearing people and be amazed!
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Deaf
Africa’s Extraordinary
Events
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June 2023
(Blessing the Yatosha Deaf School site, Sengerema, Tanzania. June 21, 2023.
Rev. Tom Hudspeth, center, is signing and saying “Baba Mungu” (Swahili for, “God our Father”)
in Tanzanian Sign Language.)
By Rev. Dr. Tom Hudspeth, Consultant for the UM-DHM
I usually do not think of rain as being an extraordinary event, but when rain, time, place, and particular people converged at a cornfield within sight of Tanzania’s Lake Victoria on the first day of summer, rain delivered an extraordinary Divine sign and blessing. During the month of June 2023, this cornfield rainfall came to highlight a series of extraordinary events in a two-country journey to Deaf Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
On June 4, 2023, I departed Dallas, Texas for Dulles airport near Washington, D.C., where I would be joined the next day by Rev. Dr. Kirk Van Gilder and our sign language interpreter, Candas Barnes – both from Gallaudet University, the world’s only liberal arts university of the Deaf. Our journey from Dulles would take us to Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe, where we would witness Collins Prempeh, the first Deaf student of Theology, graduate from AU on June 10. Collins was a four-year scholarship recipient from SEEDS (Serving and Educating Exceptional Deaf Students) a Deaf ministry of Lovers Lane UMC, Dallas, as well as a solidarity grant scholarship recipient from our UM-DHM committee.
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(l to r: Tom Hudspeth, Kirk Van Gilder, Candas Barnes)
While in Zimbabwe, we would meet with the Vice Chancellor of AU, Rev. Dr. Peter Mageto, and other Deaf ministries in Zimbabwe. Joining us was a Zambian Deaf teacher of the Deaf, Martin Sichone, who on December 11, 2022, with Rev. Daiman Mainsa, the District Superintendent of Lusaka, had opened the first Deaf UMC ministry in Zambia with a grant from our UM-DHM committee. (See this article from Africa University).
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(Collins Prempeh, 2023 B.A. Graduate in Theology, Africa University)
Living adjacent to Zimbabwe, Martin came at my invitation as a prospective Deaf student at AU, to meet Collins, visit the campus and professors. We would also meet Collins’ sign language interpreter, Tonderayi “Tonde” Makaya, who we would honor as Africa University’s first full time sign language interpreter (A user of Zim Sign, Tonde had to learn Ghanaian Sign Language, Collin's first language. Tonde had also received a UM-DHM scholarship for research on Deaf education in Zimbabwe).
While at Africa University, we introduced Collins and Martin to Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Sinzohagera, the Bishop’s legal representative of the Burundi UMC Annual Conference; Bishop Eben Nhwatiwa of the Zimbabwe East Conference; James Salley, CEO of Africa University, Tennessee; Rev. Tendai Makono, Mutare District Superintendent; and Bishop Mande Muyombo of the North Katanga, Tanzania and Tanganyika Conferences and chair of AU board of directors. Ideas for expanding Deaf ministry in Burundi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Ghana were exchanged. Collins and Martin, both Deaf men, husbands, and new fathers involved with Deaf ministry, shared joys, and challenges of being Deaf among hearing people. On June 11, we worshipped at Hilltop UMC in Mutare, also a UM-DHM grant recipient years ago, thanking them for providing a Deaf witness and place that mentored Tonderayi, who in turn, became Collins' advocate and access to Africa University. Zimbabwe).
|  | (Tonderayi Makaya, interpreter, Hilltop UMC, Mutare, Zimbabwe) |  | |
(Tom and Collins review for an interview with Deaf TV Zimbabwe
at the home of Lovemore Chidemo and Agness Chimbinda, producers, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Click here to see link to YouTube interview.)
Two days after Collins’ graduation from among AU’s highest graduating class of 954 students, he, Martin, and I traveled to Tanzania for eleven days to meet with leaders of the Yatosha (Swahili for “enough”) Deaf project (another UM-DHM grant recipient). There we also met Rev. Mutawle Ntambo, the Bishop’s representative to the Tanzania Annual Conference, Rev. Isaka Ibrahim the District Superintendent of Dar Es Salaam, and Deaf leaders, including those at the Tanzania Sign Language Bible Translation project and the Immanuel Deaf Church. Martin, Collins, and I joined with Pastor Isaya Mwita Matiku, the Deaf pastor for Dar Es Salaam’s First UMC, to lead Deaf workshops on “Seven Steps on How to Know God” for groups in Dar Es Salaam and at Mwanza, near Lake Victoria.
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(Collins, left, welcomed by Simon Ngigi,
Deaf Consultant for the Tanzania Sign Language Bible Translation Project, Dar Es Salaam)
| (l to r: Collins Prempeh, Tom Hudspeth, Martin Sichone) |  | |
(Tom Hudspeth (l) gives an illustration of being connected to Jesus the Vine,
while Pastor Isaya and Collins Prempeh (right) look on.
Sebring-Mwanza Mission, Tanzania)
Following the two-day workshop in Dar Es Salaam, Pastor Isaya assisted me in remembering and administering baptism vows for the first Deaf members of FUMC, Dar Es Salaam: Sianga Richard, Siana Benedicta, Mapple Xahaya, Hiliali Peter, and Consolata Mhagama. We, along with a hard of hearing Muslim ASL interpreter, stood knee-deep in waters from the Indian Ocean near the Nyerere Bridge, as I used Tanzanian Sign Language for “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” The next day, on June 18, we worshipped at First UMC Dar Es Salaam, as these newly baptized Deaf received communion. As Collins signed his sermon, mostly in ASL mixed with Ghanaian Sign, I voiced his sermon in English, which was translated into Swahili by Nyasinde Pablo, the director of Yatosha, and from Swahili, the sermon translated into Tanzanian Sign Language. This four-language sermon was the first time a Deaf person had preached in that church. Collins’ testimony of his mother’s traumatizing attempts and others to heal his deafness awakened the congregation’s sensitivity to not fix Deaf people, but to accept Deaf people and their language of sign as a gift to the community and Church.
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(The baptism of Consolata Mhagama, near the Nyerere Bridge, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania,
June 17, 2023
Left to right standing: Rev. Tom Hudspeth, Habibu Mlope, Pastor Isaya Matiku)
After a three-hour flight from Dar Es Salaam, passing a cloud wreathed Mount Kilimanjaro, we arrived at a warm Yatosha team welcome in Mwanza, and the clear air of Lake Victoria’s shores. After a visit at Wesley College and with Rev. Boniface Wanyama, Head of Theology, the divine date with the rainfall in the cornfield occurred on the first day of summer, June 21. In our three-car entourage were dignitaries from Wesley College, the Lay Leader and Trustees of the Tanzania Annual Conference, Rev. Denis Simon the District Superintendent of Mwanza, local Deaf church leaders, Yatosha Deaf Ministry leaders, and our trio of Martin, Collins, and me. The object of our travel would be the future site of Yatosha Deaf School, where 300 primary students will reside to learn Tanzanian Sign Language and English.
Crossing an inlet along Lake Victoria, on a ferry jammed with vendors, workers, motorcycles, buses, and cars, we jostled off the ferry’s gray-steel ramp, surging among a riot of commotion past corrugated metal topped awnings that lined the road. As we drank a soda among skinny wooden poles propping one such awning, one of the Immanuel Deaf church pastors, Benedict, signed to me, “There’s rain forecasted where we’re going,” pointing to his cell phone. Unconvinced, I looked up and saw only a couple of clouds. I signed and spoke, “I came prepared, I brought my rain jacket.” Overhearing me, Rev. Boniface interjected, “In Africa, rain is a blessing!” To which I replied, “Then I won’t wear my jacket! Let me be blessed!”
Thirty or so minutes of dirt roads led us through rice fields, farms, livestock, hamlets, and eventually a narrow, rutted path fronting a mudbrick home. The skies above grew darker as gray clouds converged. I copied the quick exits from our cars, donning a bright yellow vest and hard hat, as were the others. Raindrops, thick and heavy, pattered here and there. I trailed the quick moving line of suited neon-yellow vests, past the mud-brick home and clothesline. In the distance was Lake Victoria. The path bent between trees and cornfield. A few children and local village leaders joined in the single-file parade. Soon we gathered around at the edge of a corn field, at a waist-high concrete square block, its angled top draped with a rain-soaked red cloth. I was invited to remove the cloth, which revealed a brass-colored plaque, with its top corners adorned with the United Methodist Cross and Flame and logo of the United Methodist Committee on Deaf and Hard of Hearing Ministries. Stenciled in black, were these words:
“The United Methodist Church of Tanzania for Honor and Glory to Our God, Yatosha Deaf School Construction at Sengerema, Mwanza. Dedicated by Rev. Dr. Thomas Hudspeth, Associate Pastor at Lovers Lane UMC, June 21, 2023.”
As I prayed to bless the land for the school, rain fell thick and heavy, clinging clothes to skin. I ended our prayer with singing and signing “Praise God from whom all blessings flow…” The dignitaries responded with a Swahili version of the Doxology sung to the tune of "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty." As we walked along the 6-½ acre property line, back to our cars, the rain lessened, and trailed off.
A few days later, I and all who had been blessed by that rainfall would be returned to our homes in Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania, and Texas. Lodged in my conversations with God, was the knowledge of that rainfall breaking a two-month dry season spell. I had not asked nor sought a sign during the three weeks I was in Africa. I had not felt rain in Zimbabwe nor in Tanzania, except for in that cornfield where a Deaf school will emerge. I think God gave us the rainfall as something to remember and marvel. To bless us when the way to building a Deaf school becomes dry and difficult, and to see rain as God’s sign:
“I bless the Deaf, and all who will build and come to this school.”
Our Deaf ministry in the United Methodist Church is in a season of new blessings emerging in Africa, blessings which invite us all to respond with the grace God has given us to pray, gift, serve and witness to Christ’s love that is enough for all.
Zimbabwe Report
by Rev. Dr. Kirk VanGilder
When Tom, Collins, and Martin departed for Tanzania, Kirk and Candas remained in the Mutare area to connect with our long-term partners in Deaf ministry and outreach with the Nzeve Deaf Centre and Hilltop United Methodist Church. The Nzeve Deaf Center (https://nzeve.org.zw/) is celebrating its 23rd year in operation as a hub for early intervention, preschool education, Deaf youth vocational training, and community outreach and education for Deaf people in the Mutare area in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. The founding director, Ms. Libby Foster, has retired and moved back to England with her husband, the new director, Karina Martin, is an experienced leader in non-profit organizations from Poland who is married to a Zimbabwean. She is busy learning Zimbabwean Sign Language, the skills and challenges of Deaf people in Mutare, coming up with innovative new projects to achieve the goals the Deaf community establishes.
Nzeve does a great deal of early contact intervention with parents of Deaf children helping them understand their child is capable of learning and achieving their dreams, then resourcing the family with a place to learn about deafness, Zimbabwean Sign Language, and how to welcome and nurture their Deaf child. They also have pre-school classes that enrich Deaf children’s learning with Deaf teachers and hearing teachers using Zimbabwean Sign Language. Nzeve is also home to the Sanganai Work Project where Deaf youth learn valuable trade skills, home and life management skills, and important public health information. Clothes making, farming, and woodworking are the main skills taught but these skills support other projects too. One of the new projects started with funds given by individuals and Magothy UMC of the Deaf in Pasadena, MD is a project to train Deaf women how to sew affordable and reusable sanitary pads. Many Deaf women in Zimbabwe lack the income to afford expensive paper based sanitary pads for menstruation. Therefore, they sometimes must choose between food and pads, or travel to work to get paid or pads. The alternative is often unsanitary use of rags that leads to infections and other health problems. The new work project has brought in women from Harare who do community-based women’s support work to discuss the issues of hygiene and train women how to make affordable and reusable sanitary pads and then train other Deaf women to improve their health and independence.
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(Sanganai Work Project, Nzeve Center for the Deaf, Zimbabwe.
On the right is Raymond Makuwaza, a Hilltop UMC sign language interpreter)
We also facilitated two workshops for the Nzeve staff. One that focused on report writing and becoming familiar with Microsoft Office programs on laptops the Centre staff have from an overseas grant. Deaf and hearing staff both were brimming with questions and excitement to learn new skills and make their reports and presentations more professional. Candas also facilitated a conversation with area interpreters and aspiring interpreters learning Zimbabwean Sign Language on the role and function of interpreters for Deaf people.
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(A poster at Nzeve Center for the Deaf, Mutare, Zimbabwe)
Candas and Kirk also attended Hilltop UMC and reconnected with the vibrant Deaf ministry there. Around 45 Deaf people were in attendance to celebrate and recognize Collins Prempeh’s graduation in Sunday Worship. Hilltop UMC remains a vital part of the Deaf community’s spiritual life.
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(Kirk, at center-left, sharing a joyful moment at Chin’ando Prayer Mountain at Old Mutare, Zimbabwe,
as the Women’s Fellowship of Hilltop UMC, sing a song for his 50th birthday, June 11, 2023)
Note
All expenses for this five-person Deaf team that served in two countries were paid by connectional giving, administered by the General Board of Global Ministries through the United Methodist Committee on Deaf and Hard of Hearing Ministries and the Advance Special on Deaf and Hard of Hearing Ministries, as well as grants from SEEDS (a 501(C)3 ministry of Lovers Lane UMC, Dallas, Texas) the United Methodist Congress of the Deaf and family donations).
To give to the Advance Special on Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Ministries and to donate toward the Yatosha Deaf School project, please go to https://umcmission.org/advance-project/982562/
Please contact Rev. Dr. Tom Hudspeth at thudspeth@llumc.org when identifying a gift for the Yatosha Deaf School project through the Advance Special.
For more information and to apply for a UM-DHM grant or scholarship, please go to our website to download a form: https://www.umdeaf.org/fund.html.
|  | (Artist’s rendering of the Yatosha Deaf School project, by Nyaside “Pablo” Mwamba Rashid). |  | |
Deaf Team to Red Bird Mission
By Carol Stevens
How do you develop Christian relationships, spiritual growth and have lots of fun? Go on a mission trip!
From August 6 to 11, 2023, 19 people went to Red Bird Mission in the mountains of Appalachia in eastern Kentucky to meet the people and help them to rehab their houses. The team consisted of 11 Deaf members and 8 hearing members representing the United Methodist and Evangelical Lutheran Deaf churches. The team arrived on Sunday from Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and Washington, D.C. excited to see each other and settle into the dorms.
Red Bird Mission and Clinic have been in ministry since 1921. The needs remain critical, especially since the closing of the mines. Poverty, lack of jobs, poor housing and the rugged mountains cause many challenges. However, the people are kind and gracious and very resourceful and clever. In addition to a clinic and a school, Red Bird hosts team from churches to come and repair and rehab homes.
Every day was filled with devotions, and meeting and working with the homeowners to repair their houses. The teams rehabbed bathrooms and painted and sanded a ramp and worked in the store where donations are prepared and resold to residents of the mountains. At night we had wild games of UNO with 16 people gathered around one table laughing and screaming. On the final night we were all touched by the Deaf-led closing worship and Holy Communion.
This mission was sponsored by ELM, the ecumenical organization of Episcopal, Evangelical Lutheran and United Methodist Deaf ministries. We are looking forward to our next Red Bird mission trip in the summer of 2025. Join us!
If you want an easy -to-do mission trip, check Red Bird’s web site.
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