The DMI blog aims to let people know about the deaf kids, teachers, pastors, schools and churches that DMI supports in developing countries, and encourage support for them by telling their amazing stories. Please share this blog with your friends.
In 1996 on a small remote island of San Miguel in the province of Albay, Philippines, a baby girl was born to a housewife and a mat salesman. The little girl was named Sarah Jane and she was one of eight siblings. A cute, little baby born into a loving household, there was something different about Sarah Jane: she was Deaf.
The family had other relatives who were Deaf so they had some experience in raising Deaf children, but even so Sarah Jane struggled in her silent world. She would wrestle with feelings of jealousy toward her siblings and despondency because no matter what the family did or how they went about things, she always felt left out. None of her family could effectively communicate with her and Sarah Jane would often find herself isolated and alone. She tells me with a pained expression that as a child, she had to struggle with the strange dichotomy of feeling loved and rejected at the same time. And this hurt.
But God loved Sarah Jane.
He cared for her so that she would never feel isolated or rejected again. San Miguel island is just 30-odd kilometres from DMI’s Fishermen of Christ Learning Center in Ligao, which is where Sarah Jane was first brought as a 7 year-old. She adapted quickly to the school environment and, under the loving guidance of the staff, learned to sign, study, make friends and to receive the acceptance and inclusion that she had always longed for.
Sarah Jane was – and is to this day – a very shy girl. So how does a shy girl adapt to the bustling communal life of a boarding school? By dancing, of course! Sarah Jane loved to dance. Any performance or play that the school was putting on, Sarah Jane would be front and centre till the music stopped, and then she’d go back to her quiet, modest ways. It was no doubt this on- stage persona mixed with her humble charm that enabled Sarah Jane to have so many close and wonderful friends.
until she got on stage.
Life is not always easy though, even in the best environments. Sarah Jane is not totally deaf. She can hear some sounds but sometimes she gets a lot of pain behind her ears which is connected to her hearing loss. There is no cure for this pain, it is simply something that she has to live with.
Sarah Jane also excelled in her studies. She graduated from the school in 2015 and went on to college where she studied to be an elementary school teacher. Her college was miles away and difficult for her to get to but she persevered with the distance and with the rigour of her studies including a teaching prac…right back here at the DMI Fishermen of Christ Learning Center! She graduated from collage in March last year and started working at DMI’s school two months later, teaching sign, home economics, English and maths across several grades.
But there is more to the DMI schools than good food, good friends and a good education. There is also Good News. Under the guidance of Pastor Arnel (blog #18), Sarah gave her life to Christ and was baptised in 2012 at the age of 16. Sarah’s mother, who was the first Christian in her family, was also a powerful influence on Sarah Jane as she moved toward a life of faith. Sarah Jane speaks of her baptism in glowing terms, as both a resolution of sorts and the start of a life-changing relationship.
Sarah Jane is a shining example of DMI’s work in the field. She came to us as a shy, timid girl, with no communications skills or educational hope, and who struggled with feelings of rejection and isolation; and she stands at the school now, still shy, but educated, poised, caring, confident, with a faith and purpose that gives back, and always smiling.
If you would like to support Sarah Jane, any of the kids or teachers, or help meet any of DMI’s needs, please click on the donate button on the top right of the page, or mail to info@deafmin.org
Lovely story!
Well Done Sarah Jane for your Transformation