Israel Testimonies: A Bridge for the Deaf community

Posted by Dan and Carole McClelland

On the prayer walk, we had the first day after meeting Greg again, we continued and arrived to a gated building called  "Ephphatha" Dan recognized the word from when Jesus healed the deaf man's ears in the Bible.  He said Ephphatha which means be opened. We stood around for a few mins and finally I went up to the gate and pushed the intercom and said "Hello, we are from America" and immediately the gate opened.  

We had a warm welcome by nuns from Italy who we learned ran an oral school run. Oral school means the teachers teach Deaf kids through spoken language and do not use sign language (in Bethlehem they use Palestine Sign Language) as a way to teach.  The school is the largest school of the Deaf in Palestine and have around 200 students.  

I used my Spanish to talk to a nun who only spoke in Italian (which was really FUN). Where we asked if there was someone who spoke English.  We met Rania, a nun from the country of Jordan at the school and some of the students, who spoke English. We did some dramas for the few students that were there. The students were so surprised to meet Deaf people from other countries as one of the girls expressed, "I thought the Deaf were only in Palestine."  It was amazing to open their world to other Deaf people and sign language and gestures, as they did not sign.  We had a candid discussion after dramas with Rania about the teaching sign language to the students at the school, which was heavy on our team's heart.   She shared she would love to learn Palestine sign language and one day have classes for students who would like to learn. Her heart was so good and so open.  We then prayed  for the school, the teachers and nuns there.  After we prayed, Rania, was so moved by our prayers she said "You pray from your hearts! Can you pray for me personally?" Of course, we said yes and she shared some of her personal prayer requests and we prayed for her! We all were in tears by the end of the prayer! I love how God orchestrates everything and that we only needed to walk with him and trust him. We talked about another time when we could come and do a program for the students. 

Renca giving her a hug after the prayer

A few days later had the opportunity to serve at the House of Hope, a school that serves students with special needs in Bethlehem.  When we arrived, we were excited to see and meet Halimeh, a woman who works at the school who is Deaf! Our group connected with her immediately and after we had a dance party and played with the kids, she gave our group a tour of Bethlehem.

Some of our girls with Halimeh and some of her students

Dance party with the students at House of Hope

Throughout our time in Israel, we were able to connect again and again with Halimeh and her family, who were all Deaf, her mom and two sisters. She invited our group over to her house for lunch and we all enjoyed an amazing Arabic style lunch and a great time of getting to know each other until late in the night. We shared about why we had come to Israel with her and her family, which led to sharing Jesus.  We were so blessed that God crossed our paths. During our time there, we learned they are from Jordan but have a heart to serve the Deaf in Palestine so moved back, as her mother grew up in Palestine and went to the Oral school that we had visited a couple days before! God was planning something! We knew it. 

Halimeh

Dinner on the floor Arabic style

I LOVE washing dishes! 

We had an amazing time taught them how to play "Nijia" an American game that our group LOVES! You try to get other out of the game by hitting their hands with your hands with a one swift movement. And we play story cubes in ASL, where there a cubes with pictures and you need to roll the cube and get a picture and then continue a story using the picture. Below are some pictures!

Not only did we have an amazing time of fellowship but we were also able to invite them to come with us to the school, after asking the nuns if we could, to bridge two worlds, oral and sign, in the Deaf community in Palestine.  The second time we went to the Ephapheta, Halimeh's two younger sisters, Amineh and Nadia (who are in the picture above) were able to come and join us. We had so much fun playing games with the elementary students and doing dramas for the older students, with help from Amineh and Nadia (as they knew the Arabic and helped us communicate).   Below are some pictures from our time there!

Afterwards, our team,  Amineh and Nadi,  and Rania came together for cookies and drinks.   We were able to start the discussion about introducing or have a sign language class available for the students who want to learn.   It was awesome how God used our team to be a bridge for the Deaf community in Palestine. We know that God has great plans for both this family and the school.  We look forward to see their partnership grow and His plans as they are revealed!