The four storey grey cement-brick walls looked more like a prison, than a school. I had been invited by one of our project directors to visit a program that we are conducting for people with disabilities. She wanted me to meet one of the students. I walked up those uneven concrete steps to the third floor to the classroom that had been assigned to our project. As I stepped into the class, all 20 students touched their foreheads, then put their fist to their chests and pointed their open palms towards me in greeting from their silent worlds. Smiles were evident on each face. Private conversations took place between each other in sign language as we waited for the teachers. Just a week ago these children lived in isolated worlds, now they had been brought together and given a sign language to communicate with each other.

I made a short speech in English that was translated into Mongolian by Battsetseg and then into Mongolian sign language by one of the teachers. I challenged them to make the best of the rest of their life's journey now that they could communicate. We gave each one a certificate and I shook each precious hand that is now being put to such valuable use in communicating. I took a photo of the group each holding their certificates with one hand and with the other hand pointed with loose fingers to the ceiling and wobbling it back and forth which is the sign language for clapping and joy. They were so proud of those certificates.

Battsetseg then asked who the best student had been. The students all pointed to a thin, pale and emaciated man about 30 years of age. Was this the student she wanted me to meet? Tsendjav's story unfolded as I spoke to his parents alone afterwards. He was one of triplets that the parents were so proud of. While still a baby he was given an antibiotic for an infection. The parents claimed it made him deaf. For thirty years these respectable parents, the father is a Mongolian Language professor at the University of Mongolia and the mother is a teacher at an elite school, hid this child from every visitor to avoid the embarrassment of anyone knowing that they had a child with a disability. Every time anyone knocked at the door, they would hold their index finger across their lips and he would go scampering to the bedroom and remain out of sight and quiet till the visitors had left. Not a single person ever knew they had another son who was deaf. They loved him, but did not know how to communicate with him. The only sign he knew was the index finger across the lips.

One week ago the parents, who had heard about the ADRA sign language course, plucked up enough courage for the first time in 30 years to take Tsendjav out of their apartment. The first day in class he would not lift his head and made no sign of taking anything in. I saw him this afternoon, 5 days later. He was at the center of many conversations. He had learned all 35 letters of the Mongolian alphabet this week for the first time in his life. He could not even count when he came on Monday. Oh the joy of the parents as they clutched the precious 600 word sign language dictionary, their key to communication with their son. Soon we hope to have a new 3,000 word dictionary in their hands. Tsendjav came up and shook my hand, gave me a rose and pulled my head towards his so he could press his cheek against mine as a sign of respect and thankfulness. I had a lump in my throat and my eyes misted over. This was a child who had been brought out into the light for the first time in his lifetime. How many more are still hidden?

The parents thanked us over and over. The father is going to give us a list of 3,000 most actively used words in Mongolian so we can corroborate our list against his. I challenged him to become the first professor of sign language in Mongolia.

"Are you the One we’ve been expecting, or are we still waiting"?

"In the next two or three hours Jesus healed many from diseases, distress and evil spirits. To many of the blind he gave the gift of sight. Then he gave the answer: Go back and tell John what you have just seen and heard:

The blind see,
The lame walk,
Lepers are cleansed,
The deaf hear,
The Dead are raised,
The wretched of the earth have God’s salvation extended to them,…"
Luke 7 (The Message)

Llewellyn Juby, October, 2005