Draw your dream life...

Teacher Kim Quyen organizes free drawing classes for hearing-impaired children at the center.

By chance, we were able to "attend" a special lesson at the Happy Art drawing class of teacher Tran Vu Kim Quyen (Tam Ky ward). The class was silent. Because the students were all from the Center for Support and Inclusive Education for Deaf Children sponsored by the Orphance Voice organization (USA).

Talking hands

H. attentively "traced" each line that Ms. Quyen sketched for her. After each straight, horizontal, and vertical line, and then choosing a color, her face lit up. Not only H., the other 16 students all had emotions that could be "read" by the person opposite.

Teacher Nguyen Thi Phuong Thuy - who directly brought the children to Kim Quyen's drawing class, could not hide her joy when seeing the children's progress day by day. Thuy is a familiar face with the disabled community in Quang Nam. For over 10 years, she has been teaching sign language programs for both adults and children.

Drawings by students at the Center for Support and Inclusive Education for Deaf Children. Photo: XH

The fate that brought Phuong Thuy to Orphance Voice and was chosen to become "Thuy's mother" for deaf and mute children in the southern area of Da Nang is quite strange. She said, she realized that "living" with the community using sign language is the best way to grasp this language. Each child is taught how to "talk" to each other, how to express their emotions with... their hands. Like a tightrope walker learning how to balance their body, these special children burst into tears every time someone understands them. And Thuy, naturally, came to each of these children.

In 2010, the center was established to care for and nurture children with congenital disabilities, deaf and mute, and families with difficulties or no support. Later, the center was supported by the Orphan Voice organization to provide additional therapeutic activities for disabled children. The center became a common home for children to open their hearts and feel everything around them. In 2024, the center was moved to Tam Ky ward.

“Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the mute can speak.” This saying means that kindness and kindness are universal values that can overcome all language and physical barriers. And that is what Ms. Thuy started her special class with. Deaf-mute children have a way of perceiving sound through the vibration of sound waves and body language. And everything happens very naturally when they receive sign language.

Magical world

H. is a special student. To "keep" him coming to the center every day, it is the effort of Ms. Thuy and her friends in the class. Having no parents, H. was adopted by an old woman on Ton Duc Thang Street (Huong Tra Ward). In the early days, he was not familiar with the way to class.

Ms. Thuy came to H.'s house to pick him up and help him with the paperwork so that he could study with his friends at the center. Now, every morning, the little boy rides his bike to class along the sidewalks of familiar roads. It seems that H.'s magical world is the road to class at the Childhood House.

The Center for Support and Inclusive Education for Deaf Children has the participation of many children who have difficulty communicating, even though they were born into well-off families. And there have been many stories that "blossom" from understanding.

M. is a boy who has studied continuously for 4 years at the center, since the days when the center was located in Phu Ninh.

"I saw everything the teacher did. I saw her mouth move, I saw my classmates' mouths move. But I couldn't hear anything. I felt confused - like I was locked in a room full of mirrors. I didn't understand anything," M. said.

He continued, one day, a group of children beat him. He saw their angry faces, but did not understand why they beat him. From then on, M. did not go to school anymore. His parents sent him to study at Ms. Thuy's center for hearing-impaired children and he loved this school very much!

Learning sign language is the practical skill that has helped M. the most. Now, she can communicate with her teachers and friends. No more looking but not understanding. No more rooms full of mirrors! M. has friends!

She enjoys playing with her friends during recess. It is also important to learn basic reading, writing, and math. M. is being prepared for “real life” outside the classroom. She can now count out a purchase, protect herself from scams, read and write, and eventually work where these skills are needed.

To know the basics of life. To understand that you have value in life, to have the confidence to move forward. That is almost the expectation that everyone who comes into contact with these special children hopes for...

Kim Quyen and Phuong Thuy (right cover) - 2 special teachers for hearing-impaired children. Photo: XH

Draw your dreams

Every Wednesday morning, people in Dang Dung Street (Tam Ky Ward) see a group of children of all ages lining up to go to the Happy Art drawing class. Ms. Kim Quyen's free drawing class has been held for nearly a year now.

Like Thuy, Kim Quyen is a well-known artist from Quang Nam with many community activities. This artist, born in 1989, is an environmental engineer. After nearly 10 years of working on environmental and climate projects, one day Kim Quyen suddenly turned to painting and changed her life.

In 2022, Kim Quyen officially became an art teacher. The topic of the environment and the awareness and communication calling for environmental protection are the topics that she focuses on to guide her students. She continuously organizes exhibitions related to the environment. Not only that, many works of children have won awards at art festivals at the provincial, city and regional levels.

Dedicating herself to painting, Kim Quyen has many special students. The students in her Wednesday morning drawing class always bring both excitement and indescribable emotions. Unable to teach them directly, Quyen and Thuy work together to transfer knowledge about composition and color into a sign language. The strange thing, Quyen said, is that the students have a great ability to perceive color. And most of the paintings have bright, clear colors.

In the first weeks, some children only drew simple dots, but over time, they were taught to draw trees, houses, and faces. Although they were not yet complete, they had an idea. Others began to combine light and dark colors to create depth. Although they were a bit clumsy, it was clear that they understood light and composition.

Kim Quyen shared that art is a way to open the way for deaf children to integrate. "For deaf children, words are limited, but art opens the door for expressing emotions, thoughts, and personality. Drawing is a way to "speak" without words" - Kim Quyen said.

I looked intently at the drawing of the road to school by a child named BT. The bright colors of the yellow sunlight shining on the green road, of the red tiled roofs looming like the image of a school. That's right, T.'s school, H.'s school, M....'s school is as clear as that in their souls!

Help the little ones

Orphan Voice was born from the Brewer family - Americans. In 2008, the Brewer family members - Tony, Cindy, Jillian, Anna Mei, Elizabeth, Faith and Joy - came to Vietnam and quickly fell in love with the people and culture here.

Since then, Orphan Voice has partnered with many Vietnamese government agencies to help orphans, deaf children, children with special needs, the poor and children at risk of abuse in the central region of Vietnam, as well as in Cambodia, Laos, South Africa and Myanmar.

Along with the facility in Phu Ninh, in 2018, Orphan Voice added a facility to care for disabled children in Dien Ban.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/ve-giac-mo-doi-minh-3310196.html