Jordan Times
Friday-Saturday, October 26-27, 2001
Holy Land Institute for the Deaf: A pioneer in deaf education
By Karen Peterson
SALT — From the street, it does not really look like a school. But once inside, visitors are greeted by an open space surrounded by cool grey buildings, like stepping back in time into the courtyard from days gone by.
Adults and children move quietly but purposefully between stone buildings trimmed in primary colors; it is definitely a space for children. But does the sense of peace come from the simple dignity of the architecture, or is it part of the unimaginable quiet world of the deaf?
The inside of the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf is an educator's dream. The blackboards reach almost to the floor, so small children can write on the board. Students use furniture built in the school's carpentry shop. One period a week the children go to a school library filled with books and small tables. The librarian teaches them how to read a book or they can watch a video. The students' favourite is the computer lab.
“One hundred twenty deaf children live at the school,” explains headmistress Rehab Haddad. Another 25 attend classes from the surrounding area. Students enter the school when they are between 3 to 6 years old. Instruction is free, but families of the children, who are accepted from a waiting list, pay a small amount for food, about as much as they would if the child lived at home.
When a child begins at the school, the first step is to communicate with him/her. “If they communicate by standing on their heads, we will stand on our heads,” says the institute's director, Brother Andrew de Carpentier.
Many families with deaf children have a private family or “home” sign language. At the school they learn Jordanian sign language. In about a month, they can learn enough sign language to communicate with each other.
The child's family can choose one person, usually someone who can read, to learn the Jordanian sign language, according to Yousef Madhon, a sign instructor at the institute, speaking through a deaf interpreter. Then the child learns to read and write in Arabic and English. “English is the language the world uses,” says Brother Andrew. Then the Internet opens up all information.
The school has come a long way since it was opened by the late King Hussein in 1964. “We started in prefabs,” says Brother Andrew, who has directed the institute since 1977. The prefabricated buildings have since been moved to villages and refugee camps and now serve as community centres. The school has branched out into vocational training, earmould production for the manufacture of hearing aids, teacher training for the Middle East, services for the disabled, and an audiology department that provides hearing tests free of charge. “Our target population is the people who cannot find or afford services,” says Brother Andrew. “We go out to villages and communities and find them.”
An earmould laboratory, started in 1982, is the first step in manufacturing hearing aids. The laboratory employs deaf workers to manufacture and repair hearing aids at cost to the public, according to Fares Swais, manager of the audiology department.
Monthly visits are made to refugee camps and testing is done in community centres. Children are also visited and tested free of charge in Salt's 13 government schools through the Ministry of Social Development and in some private schools. Students who cannot afford hearing aids are referred to agencies that can help. Funds are sporadically available for hearing aid batteries.
The institute started training teachers for the Middle East in 1990. This year for the first time, deaf and hearing teachers were mixed. “Ten to twelve teachers come at one time and are exposed to good and bad practices,” says Brother Andrew. “Teachers come from Jordan, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq to observe for three to six weeks.” New teacher trainers are selected from this group. Training materials and audiology texts in Arabic have been developed, as well as a dictionary for Jordanian sign language.
For the institute, simply educating the children is not enough. The goal of the institute is to assist the deaf to become self-reliant members of society. This means they need skills to find work. In 1978, the institute began a vocational training programme. Starting in the fourth grade, students learn vocational theory and practice in addition to the academic government programme, according to Haddad. From the seventh to the tenth grades, half the class time is spent in vocational workshops.
Girls can choose sewing, weaving and embroidery. Boys can choose carpentry, furniture painting, metalworking or auto mechanics. Both boys and girls can choose earmould manufacturing or computers.
“Our unemployment rate for boys is 5 per cent,” says Brother Andrew. For girls, it is more of a challenge.
The institute's latest project is the addition of a Tawjihi programme. In the last two years of secondary school, students cut back on vocational study to prepare for the Tawjihi exam. Two years ago, students from the institute sat for the exam for the first time. Today the institute has five graduates currently attending colleges. The colleges provide sign language interpreters for their deaf students.
How do you build an organisation like this? “Quality of work,” says Brother Andrew without hesitation. “We point to what we are already doing. Then when we approach people for funding we say, “We can do more, but we need another building. It sells itself.” Photographs outside his office show children in Switzerland washing cars to raise money for the school.
Brother Andrew, an Episcopalian priest, also recommends prayer. When the value of the euro dropped recently, the institute had a difficult time financially, since the institute's major donors are from Holland, England, Germany and Switzerland as well as Jordan. “We prayed harder, “ says Brother Andrew. “If you don't believe in it, you're not going to pray for it,” he adds.