Can you hear me now?

From Mama Kathy: No actually, he can't hear me or anything else for that matter. A cute little guy has taken to my heart this trip. His name is Moses and he is deaf. He is somewhere around 3 1/2 years old they guess. He was abandoned by his mother. I avoided him last year. I didn't know how to act around him and it honestly just seemed too difficult. He just grunted and cried and would hit you for attention.

But this year, I realized that I needed to show him the same love I show everyone else. So I started by just smiling at him when he looked at me. Then if he wasn't looking I would tap him and smile. It became a game. Then he started trying to get me to hold him. So I did. I then started trying to communicate with him by making up my own sign languauge to show what I was saying. I have discovered that he is quite loving and very bright. He catches on quickly to what I am trying to tell him. Now he trusts me and is even quicker to understand.

At first the other kids laughed at me when I talked to him, telling me he couldn't hear. But I showed them that he does understand if you are patient enough to talk to him instead of just forcing him to...say wipe his nose. Once I showed him that it was good to wipe his runny nose he in turn showed another kid to wipe his nose!!

So, just pry for little Moses. We hope to help him get the training he needs and is ready for. Huruma has another deaf boy who attends a deaf school. But Moses apparently would be able to hear some very high pitched sounds and voices with a hearing aid. Greer who is staying longer is also attached to this guy so she will work with him and be his advocate.