WWOOFing experience!

Coming from an outside view of not knowing much about the native animals of Australia, we had an opportunity to live at a wildlife sanctuary in the Adelaide Hills. For the past week, we’ve been surrounded by kangaroos, koalas, platypuses, potoroos, wallabies, bandicoots, possums and many other exotic birds and animals. They all live safely in their natural habitat of native plants and trees. It’s a 15-acre fenced in wildlife paradise maintained by the Barnard family.

This experience was made possible through the wonderful program of WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms). WWOOF hosts provide members with free meals, accommodations and education on the local environment in exchange for 4-6 hours of manual labor. We worked hard clearing tree-size weeds and building a fire prevention system for the house (since bush fires are a harsh reality here). We were spoiled with Melinda’s delicious cooking of sushi, spring rolls and pumpkin soup, to fancy-shmancy toasted sandwiches and an exotic "WOOFer's Delight" salad that you'll have to taste for yourselves some day! Meals were an opportunity for Mel and Tony to share their knowledge of the local habitat, and learn from us about international sign languages and Deaf culture.

So here’s a few fascinating facts about some of the animals we’ve helped take care of this week!
In the 1970’s, Woylies were thought to go extinct with only 200 left. But thanks to efforts from Wildlife Sanctuaries & National Parks their numbers are back up to 70,000 today.
Kangaroos can decide to have a male or female baby. They can also stop the development of their embryos in harsh environment conditions such as droughts or fires.
The platypus can dive 80 times an hour and stay under water up to 10 minutes.
A Potoroo is a tiny kangaroo only 20cm high.
And a Wallaby has an average lifespan of 17 years.

Thanks Mel, Tony, Alex, Max & Eli! It was honor to be a part of your lives and the work you do.

Photos:
Christy and Joey the Kangaroo
DJ workin the weeds
The Barnard Family
Tony & DJ installing the fire prevention system on the roof

Freedom, Vitality and Limitless Potential

That is the vision and logo of Deaf Children Australia (DCA), a national non-profit organization based in Melbourne, Australia for the last 143 years. There are currently over 16,000 deaf and hard of hearing children under 21 in Australia and 500 babies are born with a hearing loss each year. DCA strives to enable these children and youth to realize their full potential.

Today a large audience of children, parents, teachers, administrators, and staff gathered at DCA to watch Christy present about Survivor. Four years later and on the other side of the world from The Amazon, Christy continues to be a strong motivational speaker and role model. Instead of the typical “what bugs did you eat and where did you poop?” questions, the DCA children were more interested in questions of communication and interaction with the other hearing contestants. They were brilliant!

The presentation led to our Discovering Deaf Worlds project, as we shared our vision to connect with deaf and hard of hearing communities around the world. Communicating through interpreters from American Sign Language to Australian Sign Language to spoken English, we explained how we are constantly adapting our language in each country we visit. By the end of one year, we will have had a taste of 15-20 different signed and spoken languages. Many people at DCA recognized how together we bring a unique deaf and hearing perspective to our project.

After a tour of DCA’s campus and history, we met with a class of students. They were fascinated to learn about our traveling adventures and how we came up with the DDW project. It all started with a shared dream to travel the world. We then challenged the students to come up with 50 things they want to do in their lifetime to follow their dreams.

The overall message today from DCA and DDW was that deafness is no barrier to do what you want to do. Thanks to DCA for your support and warm welcome to visit. We had a BLAST getting to know you all!

For more information on DCA visit: www.deafchildrenaustralia.org.au

Discovering Deaf Worlds on the move

After 6 weeks of coast to coast travel, 19 days of interviews, 15 hrs of video footage, and meeting hundreds of people involved with the Deaf community, we are wrapping up our time in New Zealand. We have been blown away by the warmth, generosity, and hospitality of New Zealanders both Deaf and hearing.

We've been awed by mother nature's landscape of active volcanoes, glaciers feeding rainforests, and oceansides full of seals, whales, and penguins. We've tried possum pie (don't recommend it), pavalona sweets, and dealt with no filter coffee anywhere to be found!

This project has given us the opportunity to meet presidents of Deaf clubs, professors at universities, single parents, teachers, children, program coordinators, interpreters, advocates, and international travelers from all over the world.

We ended our time in Auckland, home to the recently established million dollar Deaf club, DANZ headquarters, Kelston Deaf Education Centre, and NZ's only interpreting program at Auckland University of Technology.

Thank you New Zealand for allowing us to document your world to share with everyone who has helped us get down under.

Tomorrow we head to the airport.
Australia....ready or not, here we come! =)

Photos:
Auckland Deaf Club
DANZ Headquarters (Sue, Natasha, Victoria)
Christy filming at Kelston Deaf Education Centre

Vigil for Emma Agnew

On Monday nite, November 26th, Emma Agnew's body was found after being missing for 11 days. She had been suffocated to death and abandoned in Spencer Park, just outside her hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand.

Local police quickly made an arrest of Liam James Reid, age 35, formerly known as Julian Heath Edgecombe before changing his name within the last five years. There was much evidence leading to Reid's arrest during the search. However the police where unable to make the arrest until Emma's body was found.

Emma, at age 20, was a leader in the Deaf community. She comes from a strong Deaf family (both parents and three brothers are all Deaf), and was highly involved with the Deaf Society of Canterbury and the Deaf Sports Federation. Her sign name/nickname means "smile", and she was known for her laughter and warm welcoming energy. Emma, though you are not with us physically anymore, your spirit lives forever. You have impacted so many!

Over one-third of the Deaf community of the entire country of New Zealand has flown into Christchurch to show their support. A memorial service will be held on Monday afternoon at 2:30pm. Butterflies will be released to pay respects. Most species of butterflies are deaf and offer a symbolization of freedom and independence among the Deaf community.

Please keep Emma's family, friends and community in your thoughts and prayers.

For more information, visit the New Zealand Herald at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10479454