Hi Valerie and SW-list members!
My name is Helen Stickney (Valerie, you may remember
me, we emailed once or twice a few months back). I
work for both Judy and James Kegl. For Judy I do a
lot of work regarding the syntax of Nicaraguan Sign
Language, but most of the work I have done this year
has been SignWriting with James and Anselmo.
I was so excited to hear about your visit with
everyone (I'm also excited because their cross-country
trip ends with them visiting me!) Anselmo and Daphny
are two wonderful examples of the exceptional teachers
that James and Judy work with in Condega and
Bluefields. And the work they do there is even doubly
amazing because the country is so poor and deaf
awareness is practically non-existant. I have been
fortunate enough to get to work in both Bluefields and
Condega and it is exciting to see how SignWriting has
enhanced the accessibility of knowledge in both
schools.
I'm excited to see the sign-bank, and am sure it will
be in my work environment soon enough. I'm sure
Anselmo would love to use this technology,
unfortunately there are really no computers
consistently available to students or teachers at the
two schools at this time. Hopefully we'll be able to
address this sometime in the near future.
Anselmo and I write letters back and forth between
Maine and Bluefields -- all in SignWriting. I've
learned practically everything I know about
SignWriting from James and Anselmo. It has been very
good for me to be part of this list --even though I
don't usually send in my thoughts I mull over the
discussion quite a deal in my mind. Perhaps I should
be in contact more, because it seems that James,
Anselmo, and I have begun forming our own writing
conventions for tricky signs (perhaps I can share a
few examples when I have time to attempt making a
SignWriting GIF). Is it possible that as SignWriting
becomes more and more used that each language might
have it's own idiosyncrasies in terms of the way
certain types of signs are written? I know that this
is something the SW-list discussion may help to avoid,
but I can't help thinking that it may be the natural
course of written languages. What do you all think?
Again, it is a pleasure to be part of this list.
Thank you all for being so excited about something so
wonderful as SignWriting --and thank you Valerie for
making it possible.
--Helen
--- Valerie Sutton wrote:
> SignWriting List
> August 6, 2001
>
> Dear SW List Members:
> I have been blessed with guests from Nicaragua this
> weekend. They
> have left now, and I miss them already!
>
> In fact, I would have loved to have more time with
> Ancelmo and
> Daphne...the two Nicaraguan Deaf people who sat with
> me this weekend,
> discussing SignWriting.
>
> Ancelmo is a Deaf teacher at Escuelita de
> Bluefields...the school for
> the Deaf in Bluefields, Nicaragua. Bluefields is a
> poor city on the
> east coast of Nicaragua, and Deaf people do not have
> much chance for
> a good education....until now of course...thanks to
> the Kegl's work
> there.
>
> James and Judy Shepard-Kegl established a school in
> Bluefields, and
> another in Condega, Nicaragua. Deaf students in
> their schools are
> reading SignWriting literature, and some are also
> writing it. Ancelmo
> is one who writes, types and teaches SignWriting.
>
> That is why I feel so honored that Judy and James
> made the effort to
> visit San Diego, to bring Ancelmo and Daphne to meet
> me.
>
> Ancelmo is one of the rare Deaf people in the world
> who is fluent in
> SignWriting and uses it as his primary written
> language. Daphne is
> younger, age 17, I believe, and she assists Ancelmo
> when he teaches,
> by copying SignWriting lessons onto the blackboard
> for him. She can
> read SignWriting, but tried to explain to me that
> she was not that
> skilled in writing...According to James, most of the
> students read
> well, but only some write well.
>
> And I had two meetings...a two-hour meeting with
> Judy Kegl...and a
> brief one with James Kegl. Their feedback and
> interest means a lot to
> me. I had the opportunity to show them SignBank, the
> new database I
> am working on in FileMaker. Judy was the first
> person to view the
> SignBank database (outside me and my programmer of
> course!) and I
> felt very happy to know that Judy felt it would be a
> useful database
> and plans to use it. James was kind enough to
> interpret for me in
> Nicaraguan Sign Language, while I showed SignBank
> to Ancelmo and
> Daphne. I am not sure how much they could grasp
> under the
> circumstances, but I hope later, they will use
> SignBank as well as
> the SignWriter Computer Program, to create SW
> dictionaries.
>
> So all in all...it was a wonderful experience
> meeting everyone!
>
> Now James is driving towards Albuquerque, New
> Mexico, to visit with
> teachers who use SignWriting there. He left with a
> car filled with
> children, Nicaraguan guests, and a dog!!
>
> I believe they will be driving to several cities,
> stopping along the
> way, to end up back home in Maine, where the Kegls
> live....
>
> That's my weekend report...
>
> Many thanks once again to the Kegls for coming!!
> --
>
> Val ;->
>
>
> -----------------------------
>
> Valerie Sutton
>
>
> SignWritingSite:
> https://www.SignWriting.org
>
> SignWriting List Archives:
> https://groups.yahoo.com/group/sw-l/
>
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