We had a great meeting today with Jesus the Light of the World Church deaf unit in Cairo, a ministry of the Anglican Church (technically, the Anglican Diocese of Egypt with North African and the Horn of Africa).
About 10% of the population of Cairo is hearling impaired. This church ministers to Christians from all over Egypt, some of whom travel over twelve hours by train, who have serious hearing impairments. This ministry, run by Clair G. Malik and Rev. Faraj Hanna, teaches basic school subjects including reading in Arabic and English, and offers speech therapy to the children. Egyptian sign lanugage is a big part of the curriculum, as is Christian religious education.
There are also sign language courses for parents. Getting the parents educated is almost as important as educating the children. There is considerable discrimination against the deaf in Egypt, and many people consider deafness a punishment from God. The vast majority of deaf children in Egypt have no support network at home.
Apparently (and I don't understand all of the ins and outs of this) it is illegal for Muslim children to enroll in a Christian program. Therefore all of the children in the program are Christians.
They're running this ministry on a shoestring budget but doing incredible work. They ask for your prayers. If you have any interest in finding out more about this ministry or offering financial support, email Rev Hanna at farajhanna at yahoo.co.uk, or Ms. Malik at deafunit at gmail.com.
I took a lot of video footage, but the editing and whatnot will take a lot of time.
This is pure slander and mislead .. Although I am deaf and I am Muslim, but that all deaf people in Egypt and the Egyptian in particular, I fully equal in rights and duties regardless of religion, identity and sex .. If we learned that we all live in one home .. Textile and one .. We share bonds of love and brotherhood .. Under the banner of God, religion and the homeland for all .. If we suffer from the rights they are at the state level and the world to the circumstances of each country's economic and development and Aijuz Alzj deaf in matters of the Annal of them only try to slander and fame and exploitation .. With the voice greetings for free frank
ReplyDeleteNot sure what I said that would be considered slanderous.... That the deaf are discriminated against? This is not something unique to Egypt. Regardless, I didn't mean anything as slanderous. The point of the post is to lift up the work of these saints.
ReplyDeleteGreetings Dr. Watson,
ReplyDeleteWonderful posting. I am working with the Deaf Unit, and was wondering if I could quote for a reference stating your opinion about the work of the Deaf Unit? I would love to contact you for an official quote, and if you have time, I can be reached at lreilly@gsimpact.org
Thank you and blessings!