Excerpt: A few days later I went to visit the deaf school I was going to be working at. The pupils were lovely with big welcoming smiles but I found it really difficult to communicate, all the Sinhalese Sign Language I had been practising felt awkward and wrong. In addition to this, it wasn’t quite clear what I would be doing at the school and I left feeling unsure and anxious about the next few months ahead.
Then suddenly my first week was over. It had been an alienating few days, but by now I had begun to settle in and I made choices of what I wanted out of this experience. Given this, I made changes. Before we left for Jungle Weekend, I gave a presentation to the other volunteers about the Deaf School Project and what I would be doing there, about Deaf Awareness and taught them the entire alphabet in Sign Language.
Later on, in the Jungle, we all did lots of activities and spent lots of time together which marked the beginning of some amazing friendships.
Click here to read Aliya Gulamani: Teaching in Sri Lanka | The Limping Chicken.
Aliya, lovely to read about your visit to Sri Lanka and your work with the deaf children. It fills us with pride that we have Ismailis doing voluntary work out side the community. Next time if you ever come by to Sri Lanka, remember that we have a J.K. in Colombo and the small Ismaili community here would welcome you very much. You can get full details from your local council or Tariqa board. Warm regards and Ya Ali Madad.
LikeLike