A delegation of Japanese teachers who visited Egypt this month found in a deaf unit something they really miss in their country. "They smile, express their emotions and are very friendly," said Kazuhiko Murakami, a member of the delegation of ten teachers from elementary and high schools in Hokkaido prefecture of Japan, who came here on a field trip from January 9 to 19, organised by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) office in Cairo. "Japanese society really needs such emotions these days, but it would be better if Egyptians were more organised and worked according to plans," added Kazuhiko, while visiting a school for the deaf in Cairo. Kazuhiko and his colleagues enjoyed their visit, stressing that the students really resemble their students in Japan. "They are enthusiastic and obey the teachers," said Kazuhiko who brought with him some drawings that his students made to be given as presents to the Egyptian students. In their paintings, the Japanese children depicted Japanese landmarks and wrote some Arabic phrases taken from a book that Kazuhiko had bought for them. The Egyptian students wanted to stress to their Japanese guests what they have in common. One of them astonished their visitors when he pointed out Japan on a map of the world. The visit was part of an international cooperation and culture exchange between Egypt and Japan. Its purpose was for the Japanese visitors to observe JICA projects and Japanese volunteers' activities in Egypt in the fields of street children, people with special needs, nursery education, health and so on. One of the projects they visited was Nardin Association for the Deaf, a society affiliated to Saint Mark's Church in el-Malek el-Saleh near el-Sayyeda Zeinab in southern Cairo, where a Japanese textiles teacher called Yoko has worked for nearly a year now. Yoko told the Egyptian Mail she was happy with the students having lots of fun, while dealing with people with disabilities was really something new and challenging that she'd never done in Japan. "At first I was afraid that I would not be able to deal with them, but after a while I began to really enjoy working with them," said Yoko who had originally wanted to work in Ghana, but found Egypt to be very similar. "Here it's amazing the way people help each other and care about each other. But the only bad thing is that after nearly a year here I still can't speak Arabic, although I've become very good at sign language and even use it with my colleagues who aren't deaf and dumb!" In the textiles workshop, Yoko and her students and teachers proudly showed the visiting Japanese teachers the wonderful, well-designed textiles they've made, all inspired by Egyptian folk art. And in another section, where older students were engaged in woodwork, the delegation were really surprised with the quality of the products. At the end of their tour, they wondered whether the standards were just as high at all the Egyptian outlets for the deaf people in Egypt. Clare Gheith, the head of the unit, said that the only thing that she could tell them was that nearly 2 million Egyptians are deaf, while around 7 million have other disabilities. Clare, who has been working with the deaf since the early eighties, said that the unit serves about 75 students, teaching them skills to make their lives easier and helping them to live their lives in a normal way. "In the association, we receive students as young as four years old and begin to teach them sign language. As they get older, we teach them lip reading, as well as reading words and writing. They also have some mathematics and basic English language. "Then they go to our different workshops where they can work with metals, wood and textiles," explained Clare, who doesn't only know every student, but is also able to tell you about his family and whether there are any other deaf people in the family. Clare doesn't consider deafness as a disability. Every one of us becomes deaf in one situation or another. "I myself felt deaf when I heard Japanese, so when we received Japanese volunteers to work with us we communicated using sign language. "The association not only helps the deaf deal with normal people, but also, more importantly, teaches society how to deal with the deaf," stressed Clare, who said that they are ready to teach anyone sign language and expressed her gratitude to JICA for its efforts and the efforts of its volunteers. JICA, established on 1st August 1974 as Japan's main ODA implementing body, supports human-resource and socio-economic development in order to facilitate the self-reliant, sustainable development of developing countries. The JICA Volunteer Programme began in 1995 with the dispatching of 26 volunteers. Today, 3,501 volunteers are working in 81 countries, making a total of 36,992 who have been dispatched since the programme's inception. Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs) are young people aged between 20 and 39 who wish to co-operate in the economic and social development of developing countries on the basis of requests from these countries. JOCVs were first dispatched to Egypt in 1996; the first batch consisted of three volunteers, while the total number has now reached 166. The JOCV programme in Egypt mainly focuses on many fields, including nursery care, support for street children, support for people with special needs and rural development, all mainly related to human security and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
