Karen is a beautiful, sweet, hard working girl who I have become friends with this month. Karen is deaf. She cannot speak or hear. I don’t know Karen’s full story, no one does except her for she has no way to really communicate with others to tell her story. When she was 16 she was rescued from what they believe was sex trafficking. Her picture appeared on TV in hope to find her family but no one responded. Karin was in a homeless shelter for 2 years then was able to move into a place who rescues girls from prostitution, rape and other circumstances. Most girls there have a baby and also a rough past but Karen ended up living there for three years until this month moving into Zion’s Gate where I am for the month.
Karen does not know much sign language and she cannot read or write so we talk with hand motions. She has a sign language teacher who comes on Mondays. Her teacher is a missionary from the states and speaks English, Spanish and sign language. She is teaching her the basics so far. I sat in on one of her classes and it was cool to try to learn with her.
We went to a water park with the kids last Saturday. It was a lot of fun.
I hung out with Karen and Theresa, a girl on my squad. We went down the water slides and I’m pretty sure Karen went down every slide possible. It was so much fun spending time there with her.
On the way back home from the water park everyone was talking in the bus. At one point Karen looked at me and made motion as if she could hear people talking all around her. I was in shock as I gave her my head phones to see if she could hear the music. She began moving her lips and head like she was singing. I freaked out a little trying to grasp the thought that Karen may be hearing. When I talked to Tony about it he said they have no idea how much she can or cannot hear sounds. Some deaf can hear loud noises as murmurs. She has not been to the doctor for her hearing since being rescued.
Next week I get to take Karen to the ear doctor to get her hearing tested! I am so excited to be able to bless her with this and to find out more about her and if there is anything else that can be done to work toward her being able to hear or speak.
Last Sunday Theresa and I went to church with Karen. It was a deaf church and her sign language teacher met us there. Walking into the church was so neat. It was filled with silence but people where talking all around us in sign language. It was amazing to see a deaf community coming together to worship and learn more about God. It was mother’s day so they had games after the classes for the mothers to participate in. A missionary came and gave bibles to everyone. They are comic type bibles so they can understand even if they cannot read.
I have had an amazing time with Karen and participating in different activities with her including painting rocks and Zumba. I am so happy to see what the rest of the month has in store with her. ith her.
