I have had some time to think about the Deaf Youth Encuentro held in Mexico, July 3-10th. These are a few thoughts from that experience.
1) We had deaf young people from the USA, Mexico, Venezuela, and Trinidad/Tobago; also a deaf priest from Spain. Four different sign-languages. Yet, these young people were able to figure out how to communicate with one another and work with each other in about a day. We live in a world where hearing people cannot seem to find ways to understand one another. The hearing world can learn a lot from deaf people!
2 Most of the young people told us stories about being "mainstreamed" into local schools. In most cases,the individual deaf young people were the ONLY deaf person in the entire school! Often, there were no sign-language interpreters. This is the situation that most deaf young people in the world face EVERYDAY! Many young deaf people NEVER have an opportunity to attend school. For that reason, many young, smart deaf quit school at age 14-15 to find work in a factory somewhere.
One deaf young man from northern Mexico told me that he works in a factory in his home town. The factory makes American products that are sold here in the USA. He described his job. He does maintenance & job "set-up" on several product lines. If he had that same job in the USA, it would pay $22-25/hr with benefits. The American company pays him $1.25/hr and the same rate for overtime hours without benefits. I know that product the company makes. It's price has not changed since it moved to Mexico. Who's making the difference in cost?(Certainly not the young man and all the other Mexicans employed by this "American" company.) And people in America wonder why people in Mexico want to work in the USA!
3 One night, because of a bad storm, we lost all electrical power. No lights; no power to pump water. For eight hours, we had no electricity, no running water for drinking, toilet, or bathing. The next morning, some people were grumbling about "this terrible problem." I reminded folks that we were inconvenienced for a short time. The people who live nearby on the local farms and in the small village must deal with this throughout their lives..
In fact, most of the world lives with shortages, outtages, "no power/clean water/sewage treatment" (in Iraq, there is still only electricity 4 hours/day). Look at the continuing situation in Haiti. Living in America, we are truly out of touch with how the vast majority of people on this planet live (survive). Our air-conditioning, big screen tvs, refrigeration, easy access to the internet, or fresh water have cut us off from any appreciation for what so many others can only dream about for themselves and their children. Having lost some convenience and comfort for a few hours, what had been a frustrating night turned into a lesson about gratefulness.