Kid’s Place in the Silent City
On June 18-20, 2001, an elementary school gym became Neighborville at the annual Kid’s Place program in Anderson, Indiana. Over 500 children participated in the program which was part of the North American Convention of the Church of God.

The focus of the event was to help the children see how they can be on mission right in their own neighborhoods, and the leadership wanted to be sure to include the Deaf community as one of those local mission fields. So Silent Blessings assembled a terrific group of Deaf and hearing leaders for a three-day glimpse into the lives of Deaf people and their families. Scroll on down to join the fun!

A learning center approach
The Kids' Place in the Silent City program is structured on a "learning center" approach. Throughout the experience the children move from center to center exploring various aspects of missions. In the morning sessions, which ran from 8 to noon, we had two Deaf drama teams acting out the story of the good Samaritan. The kids LOVED it!

Our very own cafe
At the same time we had a mock version of the "Finger Food Cafe" where children could come and get snacks. But the catch there was that they had to order in sign language! So, as the children entered the cafe, one of our staffers taught them the signs for each of the items on the menu that day. Needless to say the kids caught on quickly, and our little cafe became just about the most popular place in Neighborville.

Speaking of the Finger Food Cafe...
We were delighted to see the children fascinated by our very special "Sneak Preview" of the "Finger Food Cafe Show." If you haven't heard about this program yet, you need to! It has all the elements you'd expect from a children's program: music, dialogue, bright colors, fun characters. But what's different about THIS show is that virtually everything is signed by the actors themselves. It is a wonderful and magical experience for kids of all ages. It's designed to teach BOTH hearing children AND Deaf children about Christ. Click this link to the Finger Food Cafe Show . The "Finger Food Cafe" is a production of Deaf Missions in association with Silent Blessings.

Deaf Experience Zone
In the afternoon our cafe became the "Deaf Experience Zone." There two Deaf leaders showed some of the technologies Deaf people use in their everyday lives. Kids saw alarm clocks that wake you with flashing lights and telephones where you type instead of talk. They saw two-way pagers to send messages back and forth to their friends and TVs where the dialogue popped up as words on the screen. They even tried on headphones to get an idea how a room sounds through hearing aids.

Learning to Sign
At another center the children were treated to a "Deaf Worship Service" complete with ASL poetry and special songs written in sign language with no melody or harmony. That was different!! In the "ASL Classroom" the children learned how to say many phrases in sign language. Still another center took them on a nature walk where they could learn the signs for various wildlife and plants. We even had an "Art Gallery" where the children could see some of famous Deaf artist Chuck Baird’s amazing artwork which integrates handshapes into the picture.

Music? Are you kiddin'??!
Well, of course! We taught the children some new songs written in both ASL and English. You should have seen them running around the campus signing to one another. Even the parents told us later they had learned some signs, too --from their kids. How exciting!

Success!
The entire program was a huge success! In fact, you might want to consider using it with your children in a Vacation Bible School setting or your Sunday school time. It takes a lot of effort -- and you'll learn a lot yourself -- but if we can help these precious children understand a little more about the Deaf culture, and how important it is to reach out to and to love Deaf people, it will be worth every bit of effort. Don't you think?

If your church would like to take the materials we developed for this experience and use them for a missions weekend or even as part of a vacation Bible school, we would be happy to share them. Just contact our office at Friends@silentblessings.org.