Job offer
I was offered a job at the Bolivarian University. It happened within the first hour of my visit. I came to meet a Friend who I first met during the world social forum this past January. Ronald is a hearing child of deaf Venezuelans who interprets and teaches Venezuelan sign language (LSV) at the university. I was meeting with Ronald to talk about some of my ideas about creating a Venezuelan sign DVD dictionary as one teaching tool for the students at the university as well as to do interviews for a documentary I am working on for the Deaf film festival in Rochester NY. The film will be about the Deaf/interpreting community in Venezuela. I met the director who oversees all foreign language departments in all the universities in Venezuela. Luz Sierra is so dynamic and enthusiastic about the accomplishments of the current govt. and the future possibilities that within an hour she had me signing up to come and teach ASL and to get the first interpreter training program off the ground. She explained how the "4th republic" of the old system and structure is being replaced by the "5th republic" which is responsible for all the positive social changes in Venezulea at this time. The goal is to begin a three year interpreter training program as soon as possible while the 5th republic is in motion.
The Bolivarian university is three years old and was converted from bureaucratic offices of the PDVSA oil company into one of the many free universities. PDVSA is the nationalized oil company and the oil revenue goes into all the community projects and missions that have been transforming the country under Chavez these past seven years. This is yet another successful example of changes under Chavez, using spaces that were once private and under utilized and turning it into a free public space and services. If this is what a dictator looks like as the Bush dynasty would have us believe my response is "when can we get ours!?" They also provide breakfast lunch and dinner free to all students and teachers. Free Education with meals! Can you imagine that in the States! It sounded excellent until I found out that professors make about minimum wage which is not enough to pay for rent in a decent area of Caracas. I was told many professors live at home with their parents. Caracas rents are exorbitant for even the middle class. The elite wealthy folks from the 4th republic own many of the nicer buildings and homes and control the rent prices. As Luz told me "keep an eye on this situation, this will begin changing with Chavez's second term." Luz and Ronald want me to start teaching and working on the program as soon as this January after Christmas break. This financial reality makes the prospect of teaching and co-creating an interpreting program challenging but not prohibiting. First we want to continue our travel plans and explore the country.
Recently a law was passed that requires all television news programs on all stations to have a sign language interpreter. You know the one, the interpreter in the corner of the television screen. In the US closed caption is used in lieu of this old method. Mainly because the interpreters can be hard to see in such a small space and the translation is more exact with text. However, in Venezuela the illiteracy rate is still very high among the deaf community making reading captions difficult. Even though Venezuela was recently rated by the United Nations as a illiteracy free nation, unfortunately this is not the case within the deaf community. Yet improvements in education and interpreter access are beginning now. What makes following this new law difficult is that there are not enough interpreters to fulfill the requirements of the law. So it is urgent to get an interpreting program off the ground while the laws support it. As it is, most interpreters here interpret as a dual role. Usually interpreters have to work in some other job and interpret when they are available making access for the deaf to most daily situations slim. Interpreters can not yet make a living solely from interpreting, but the need is there. Hopefully in combination with the new laws and interpreter training program this will change. All the interpreters I have met are either children of deaf adults or have a deaf spouse.
I have spent a lot of time at the university the past two days. I filmed the sign classes and interviewed some deaf teachers and students. There are 3 deaf teachers and Ronald. They offer many sign courses but as of now only have 2 levels of LSV. These classes have only been offered for one semester now. The extent of the educational resources is one photo copied sheet of the Venezuelan alphabet. There are 2 other photo copied "books" of basic signs but most students don't have one. The main method of teaching that I have observed is to write Spanish words on the board and explain the sign for each word. In two classes I was invited to teach the ASL for the same words and we compared the similarities and differences of the signed languages. The students then would take turns incorporating the signs into various stories. The students loved to see me sign both in ASL and LSV and it was very uplifting. After spending weeks feeling incomplete in my new Spanish language I could shine in ASL and LSV. It was helpful to be with others learning a new language it brought immediate solidarity and friendship. Learning LSV comes easy to me and I would like to do some interpreting while in Merida as well as continue working on the 2 video projects. There is a smaller deaf/interpreting community there and Ronald with all his enthusiasm has already contacted people to let them know about our project.
I am really impressed with the students here and I think Latin American culture lends itself to fast studies in sign language. Students are very expressive and eager to move in the ways required for successful communication in this visual language. I do want to return to the US before I begin working on this project. There are too many resources I need to compile back in the States. There are many things we need here and every book is cherished. I only brought one ASL dictionary to show folks here and it is a gem in the hands of eager minds. I will need help from the amazing Rochester Deaf and interpreter community to help me compile videos, books,curriculum and specific pedagogical methods. Of course I need Robyn Dean to come and do a workshop on the Demand/Control paradigm. I feel grateful to have access to so many people back home and I am certain they will help us with this master project. Venezuela is behind about 30 years when it comes to access for the deaf. This is only because of the past elitist centered oligarchy ( quite literally OILgarchy) governments. Under the Chavez govt. and 21st Century Socialism this is changing. This is the time to ride the wave of change to set into motion revolutionary projects. I am eager to be part of this.
Of course we are working out the details. Loved ones, as of now we are not changing our return tickets. We are considering all the possibilities and think the fall would be a better time to start. We want to see this program succeed and bring as many resources with us before we begin.
Well now it is almost 2am, and it is only in these late hours I can manage to steal away and write. Can I use that as an excuse for my grammar? Zarha has homeschooling, I have exhaustion. I am trying to spare you my ramblings so I kept everything focused on the University. Many more stories and blunders and my minor (luckily) "hold up" yet to come. Screaming really does come in handy. I have already been paid back ten fold what was taken from me. We leave this Saturday for our coastal trip and hope to be in Merida, a small friendly town in the Andes Mt. range just before Christmas. Or maybe we will have Christmas on the beach. I will miss my Caracas friends, parents and comrades who have opened their home and hearts to us. We will hopefully stay here for a week in February at the end of our trip. Maybe we will be able to make our Caracas family proud with our improved spanish after our immersion in Spanish language classes in Merida.
much love,
Buen Sueno
