My time at LAVOSI- my volunteer placement

WARNING: This is an essay I wrote for my NGO class, so it might be a little repetitive, or kind of boring . . . but I thought I should let everyone know what my volunteer experience was like! Enjoy :)


LAVOSI ( Las Voces de Silencio) or Friends of the Deaf was started in January 2010 by Álvaro Ernesto De León Espinoza, his father Álvaro de León Cruz, and Chris Tackett to help tackle the marginalization of auditory deficient people in Guatemala. Álvaro Ernesto De León is deaf and fluent in both American Sign Language (ASL) and Guatemalan Sign Language (GSL). He studied in the states and had a dream to open up a school where deaf children would be able to learn in a healthy environment. The school currently has 18 students and two teachers teaching between the ages of approximately 2-23. The school is giving a chance to some older students to learn to read and write who slipped through the cracks of the public school system. I first learned about LAVOSI when researching non-government organization’s (NGO’s) for the NGO class in late January. In mid February I went to visit the organization and was really impressed with how far the school had come in only a year and wanted to help in any way I could. Since then I have been volunteering about twice a week in the mornings from about 8:30-12:30pm. LAVOSI doesn’t have specific guidelines for volunteers but I find this to be a strength in the organization. It gave me the freedom to help in whichever area I wanted, and for them to ask me to help them with whatever they needed. I mostly gave support in the classroom with class work, activities, and recess. More information about the organization can be found at: http://www.friendsofthedeaf.com/index.html.
When I first learned about LAVOSI through the website I was intrigued by the uniqueness of the organization and the demographic it targeted. I have always had an
interest in sign language but had never learned much or knew much about the deaf community. When looking at the website I realized that I had never met anyone who was hard of hearing or deaf in Canada let alone Guatemala. Initially the website seemed a bit‘sexy’ because there were a lot of pictures of children with smiling faces doing GSL. Therefore I was a bit hesitant about pursuing this NGO as a possible volunteer placement or organization for the NGO class. A week or two after I read about it, I heard Jackie was volunteering there and I knew I had to give it a try. Looking back on how I thought about this NGO I couldn’t have been more wrong. It is exactly what the website says and more, the son and father co-founders have established more than a school. They have established a safe, loving place for the students to be themselves and gain confidence in their skills and in themselves. From the moment that I met Álvaro Sr. and Jr. they were extremely welcoming and pure-hearted. Their dedication for the education of these students is inspirational. Both of them are full-time volunteers for the school but it would not be able to run without them. Just as dedicated are the two teachers they’ve hired Nelson and Vicki. Who did not know any GSL when they first started teaching last year and that now are well on their way to being fluent. The website did not explain how the classes are taught and I was extremely surprised to learn how it is done. Through writing it out on the whiteboard, then signing it out word by word, and then each student having a chance to repeat it back to the teacher in sign gives them the specialized education they need. Furthermore the community I felt when I started volunteering was nothing I could have foreseen and it has been very welcoming. When I first started volunteering it was very hard not to get frustrated because I did not know any GSL and the students would try and talk to me and I couldn’t understand or respond. I learned the alphabet in GSL and some basic signs during the first two weeks that helped to get me through. Once I could sign a little bit I was able to
actually help the students instead of just watching and learning. I started volunteering in the grade 1-6 classroom. In particular a lot of the time I helped this girl named Alejandra who is six years old and has a little bit of hearing. Her learning level was basic enough that I could actually help her with her class work and she would not get confused by my attempts to sign. At times during the lessons there was not too much to be done because the students were copying down the lesson quietly. Although walking around the classroom from time to time to make sure they were writing the right letters or numbers was always helpful. There was downtime between lessons and recess but I never felt useless or like I wasn’t making a difference. Even during recess I would sign with the girls and learn new words and sayings, or I would play sports with some of the younger students. Particularly there is this 21 year old girl named Kimberly who is very fluent in GSL and loves to sign. One recess I was looking over my sign book I bought from Álvaro Jr. (that he wrote) and she came up and sat down beside me. We signed for about 15min along with two of the other girls Elena and Wendy, using the vocabulary from the sign book. The girls were learning new words and were asking me what some of the signs meant and I was able to explain to them somewhat what it meant. Through my learning of GSL they were able to learn more words and increase their vocabulary. Every time I saw Álvaro Sr. he would greet me with the biggest hug and thank me for volunteering
with the organization. As well Melvin is the volunteer coordinator of activities and he was always extremely welcoming and thankful. The whole community of LAVOSI was always extremely welcoming, friendly, and always made me feel valuable to their organization. This includes the students who created a sign nickname for me which made
me feel accepted by them. I never felt like I was undervalued or useless even when I was watching their lessons I would learn new words and therefore be able to communicate better with the students.
My experience with LAVOSI has been life changing. As previously stated I had never encountered the deaf community in Canada or Guatemala in any way shape or form. Seeing how the school runs, how the students are taught and with how much love and support they are given made a strong impression on me. I would like to discuss one experience in particular that was the turning point for my volunteer experience in Guatemala. A few weeks ago I was invited to an event at the school on a Saturday night. A school from Texas with teenagers who have auditory deficiency was in Guatemala visiting and facilitated games for the students the previous day and facilitated skits for Saturday’s events with some of the students from LAVOSI. As well an organization called ASEDES (Educational Association for the Deaf) from Guatemala City came for the event. One of the most amazing moments of the night was when Jennifer Campero of the high school from Texas was addressing the group in American Sign Language (ASL) and Álvaro Jr. was standing beside her translating what she was signing in ASL to GSL. It may seem small but I was astounded by how similar sign language is to any other language. It is similar to translating any other spoken language, every country has a different way to say the same thing even ones that speak the same sign language. After the presentation we had dinner and everyone had a chance to socialize and get to know each other. It struck me how similar yet different the students were. The students from Texas and Guatemala City had had opportunities in sign language education (for the most
part) for most of their lives, while many of the students at LAVOSI were behind in education due to lack of funds, or slipping through the cracks of public schools. On the other hand though, students are students and they were all able to communicate whether in ASL or GSL and really enjoy themselves. There are many other moments like these that I have encountered throughout my time at LAVOSI and I will cherish them for the rest of my life. I have decided that when I go back to Canada I will take ASL classes at the University of Guelph and hopefully find a way in the future to be apart of the deaf community.
While at LAVOSI I had a chance to encounter the day to day of running an NGO. I have learned that NGO’s need the support of the community in order to prosper. Many times the teachers or parents of the students would donate a snack for all the students for recess. As well the school was recently approached by a soccer coach who wanted to volunteer to provide structured Physical Education for the students. In the community the importance of specialized education for students with auditory deficiency is understood. Moreover they understand that the best way to support them is through education that will lead them to a better future. As well through personal conversations with Álvaro Sr., Álvaro Jr., Melvin, and Chris I learned the stress of running an NGO. While they are very proud of what they have accomplished, they also feel the pressure of the necessity of funding to continue to provide their service and in order to continue growing. They are always out making presentations for different organizations, school, and universities within Guatemala and in the United States to get the word out and in search of more funding. I did not see very much of the bureaucratic process but through talking to Chris learned the difficulty of officially setting up an NGO in Guatemala and then getting the curriculum approved by the ministry of education. LAVOSI was recently granted official status as a school from the ministry of education and was therefore able to benefit from the school supplies it is required to provide to every school. Lastly I learned that in order to run an NGO one needs to be ready to dedicate one’s life to the cause of the NGO and must do everything with compassion.
LAVOSI has taught me more than I could have ever learned in the classroom through many amazing experiences discussed above. Especially the dedication of Álvaro Sr., Álvaro Jr., Chris and Melvin has shown me what a few people with a dream can accomplish. Through my time at LAVOSI a door was opened for me to a different world that I never knew existed, but that I love. It is clear through the support of the NGO class donating enough funds to hire a new teacher, that LAVOSI is an incredibly positive NGO making a real change in these students lives. I will always remember my time at LAVOSI and hopefully make it back to volunteer in the near future to keep giving these students everything they deserve: the right to a specialized education, the right to feel confident in themselves, and the right to feel supported and encouraged.