Colin Allen is the president of the World Federation of the Deaf which represents deaf people to the United Nations. He is a real organizational genius, just the type of advocate leader the deaf community needs–and he was just recognized for his abilities by made a member of the Order of Australia in the most recent Queen’s List.
Coincidentally the guard at our Maryknoll office in Phnom Penh showed up wearing an old Colin Allen shirt! Maybe fifteen years ago we made up some shirts for a birthday party for Colin when he worked at the Deaf Development Programme here–before he got to the big leagues. I doubt the appearance of the shirt at this time was intentional–I have no idea how the guard got it and I’m sure he has no idea who Colin is–but it was a fortuitous alignment of events!