As we are driving through the largest indigenous civilization in Central America, I can’t help but notice all of the beauty. The skies are grey, but the kind of grey that happens after a storm. Calm. Peaceful. Mountains are as far as the eye can see and everything is green. Deep pink hibiscus flowers are perfectly placed amongst the green with hummingbirds fluttering all around. As we drive with the windows rolled down, I am in awe of how amazing our Creator is.
Day one of ministry begins and our group heads up to the mountains with our contacts Heather and Danny Nelson. They travel to this mountain three times a week to teach sign language to a group of about 30 kids. All except for two of the kids in the classroom can hear.
We first walked to a little house right behind the school.
That’s when I met Moises. When I first saw him, he was only wearing underwear and I noticed he had little oozing sores all over his little body. I smiled at him, knowing my interactions were limited because little Moises was born deaf. Smiling seemed to be the only way I could communicate with him. Although, he didn’t smile back at me. Heather has taken this little boy under her wing. She told us he was looked at as a curse when he was born because he was born deaf. She has been working with him and the other children in the community.
A couple days later I returned to the two little classrooms. I scanned the room for little Moises. I almost didn’t recognize him because he was dressed and wasn’t crying. I was happy to see him in class. This particular day, our contact Heather had a helper with her named Elizabeth. Elizabeth is 15 years old and is fluent in 3 languages. (No big deal, right?) I noticed that Elizabeth and Moises move to the other empty classroom so Moises can get some one on one learning. He gets overwhelmed pretty quickly by the other children.
At this point, I knew I wanted to write my next blog about this little boy, so I snuck in the room with them with my camera. I sat in a desk and watched Moises. As Elizabeth was working with him, I loved watching his face and seeing the wheels turn inside his head. There has to be so much going on in that little mind. It was incredible to watch him.
As I watched, I wanted to communicate with him. Even if it was something simple. I stood up and looked at him. He looked up at me, and in sign language I said, “My name is Caroline.” His face lit up and he smiled at me. I loved that even for a second I got this little boy to smile.
The more I learned about Moises, the more I wanted to share his story. I wanted to share the story of a little deaf boy who was abandoned by his mother when he was born and raised by his grandmother. He was looked at as a curse when he was born, because people didn’t know how to communicate with him. They didn’t know what was wrong with him. Now this little boy is being surrounded by his community and his classmates. They are learning sign so they can speak Moises’ language.
In the words of my wonderful contact Heather….
“God is redeeming this cursed little life into a great blessing. His family is blessed with a house, food, and care. The entire community of Oma will soon get a fresh water well for the first time because of this little boy. We have over 25 (hearing) kids learning about Jesus through sign language in our program. Moises, now 5 is learning sign language along with other family members. He is learning for the first time that he has a name and that things have names. I am realizing just how smart Moises is. He surprises me all the time with what he can do, especially while living in such an impoverished environment. Currently, there is no Christian deaf school in the entire country of Panama. Most certainly not on the reservation with the tribal people. We suspect that the first Christian deaf school in Panama is on the way, and it will start with the Ngobe people. Moises is a catalyst for the work being done with the deaf in San Felix. The one thing I have learned through meeting and working with this deaf and indigenous boy, is that God has such an intricate plan. Even if we cannot understand His plan, we can trust that it is wise and magnificent.”
