Category: Deaf

People and activities in the Cambodian deaf world

On the Road Again…

adcC

A special feature of this ADCC was the presence of Fr. Dong, the second deaf priest in the diocese of Seoul. It is going to be great having him organizing and leading in Asia for the next generation. He has been ordained two years.
This conference was so well organized! There were lots of non-business, fun things to see and do and learn. One Korean deaf man, a skilled calligrapher, helped people to write their names in the Korean language. I got a good grade on mine but I had an unfair advantage of 13 years writing Chinese characters in Hong Kong.
Another special touch to the conference was the really inclusive and professional use of IT and audio-visuals. These three video cameras in the rear of the room focused on presenters’ sign language and projected it larger than life on a huge screen at the front of the room.

On the Road Again…

The final off-campus trip we took during the week-long conference was to the DMZ, the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea. This is an old steam locomotive that used to ply between the two Koreas but was attacked and destroyed at the beginning of the Korean War.
The DMZ is 8 kilometers wide. This cable car takes visitors from the southern edge of the DMZ (by the destroyed locomotive) to the center point of the DMZ where the actual negotiations have taken place.
The actual negotiations building is this living-room sized room. It is stark with just a wooden table and three chairs on each side so the two teams face each other. I was a bit put off by the fact the DMZ is now a major tourist draw with dozens of tour buses, a Dunkin Donuts, and all the other tourist amenities.

On the Road Again…..

ADCC

The three days of meetings were rather busy and long and that is why Fr. Min Seo arranged activities outside of the conference room. On our third day we had a mini Olympics. All 220 people were divided into four teams for various simple but fun events.
In this game, the teams rolled huge inflated balls up and back between two rows of their members, trying to be the fastest to make a circuit.
For supper after the olympics, we tried our hand at making a Korean kimbab. A large square of seaweed is covered with cooked rice and then strips of cheese, ham, and vegetables are placed on top of the rice. The whole is then rolled into a solid cylinder and eaten cold. Quite good!

On the Road Again….

ADCC in Seoul

Fr. Min Seo, the deaf Korean priest who is pastor of Ephatha Deaf Parish and who organized the conference of the ADCC.
Mass at the Seoul cathedral with the Archbishop and the Vatican ambassador to Korea.
The Cambodian deaf delegation to the ADCC at a dinner in the church hall after the mass.
After dinner there was a fascinating drumming and drama performance at a nearby venue.
Finally it was time to head back to the buses in the popular tourist district of Seoul for the return trip to our conference center.

On the Road Again….

ADCC in Seoul

This Asian Deaf Catholic Conference was almost twice as long as usual because every other day we took a trip outside of the youth camp where we were conferencing. We spent a lot of time on buses–and walking on this first trip into Seoul.
On this day our first stop was at the Imperial Palace. A custom for visitors is to dress up in traditional Korean costumes before walking to the palace. Costumed visitors are admitted free to the palace grounds.
Once inside the palace, our group alone was probably responsible for hundreds (thousands?) of photos.
After the palace we walked to a memorial square honoring the Korean king who created the Korean written language. The building on the far right is the U.S. Embassy.
We then walked again through downtown Seoul towards the cathedral. This section of the route was along a stream flowing through city. It is artificial and all the water is pumped back to the source in a continuous loop.

On the Road Again….

Asian Deaf Catholic Conference

Being reconnected with friends from around the deaf world is one of the best parts of a conference like this. These deaf women are from Mongolia and Korea.
Very special was the reunion with the contingent from the deaf community in Hong Kong, my favorite place.
Judy Wu Man Ha was my Cantonese language tutor, colleague, and dear friend in Hong Kong. It was her continued support and encouragement of the Hong Kong group that brought so many of them to ADCC.

On the Road Again….

Asian Deaf Catholic Conference

When the first busload of participants arrived, Fr. Park Min Seo, a deaf priest from Seoul, welcomed the new arrivals.
Because people were arriving on so many different flights throughout the day, our first dinner was prepared boxed meals which were quite good.
I was impressed that Fr. Min Seo had recruited so many volunteers to help with the week of the conference and here they were separating the used food containers for recycling!
The venue for the conference was a diocesan youth camp about 15 miles from Seoul and it was a good site for deaf people with good lighting and good sign language sight lines in addition to the natural beauty of the grounds.

On the Road Again….

Phnom Penh’s new airport is named Techo International Airport and it is very large, far beyond the current needs of the city. Part of Cambodian culture is for the whole family, even the village, to go to the airport to see the person off. They arrive at the airport hours early and sit on the floor waiting.
These are four of the deaf people who made up our delegation to the Asian Deaf Catholic Conference. The twins (red shirts) are non-Catholic Christians but the others were all Buddhists!
At the Seoul airport deaf volunteers in orange jackets met all of the deaf people arriving from 20 countries. The volunteers first met us and then we waited with them to meet these two young deaf men from Timor Leste.
Then we all went outside to wait for the large bus that took us to a youth retreat center about fifteen miles outside of town.

On the Road Again….

Sorry for the lack of posts from this trip! There have been wi-fi problems all along but today I finally got a special roaming adapter that allows me to connect my computer. Before that we could only connect phones.

The Internet problems have been complemented by time problems. Every day the schedule starts at 7:00 AM and it doesn’t finish until 10:00 or 11:00 PM, and there is no free time except for an hour for meals. There is no opportunity to catch up on work unless I skip something in the schedule. Grueling….

This is a photo of our Cambodian deaf group–interesting because there is not one Catholic deaf person in Cambodia! More on that to come. At the far right of the photo is Fr. Park Min Seo, the deaf priest from the Seoul diocese who is hosting this 4th Asia Deaf Catholic Conference.