This story is on the Go-Local Jamaica web site for Manchester. Please check out this and other interesting stories at www.go-mandeville.com
OUT IN Cool Shade on the Mile Gully Road in Manchester, sits a huge workshop of 7400 square feet, three self-contained houses, one apartment complex and a storage room on a 100-acre property.
This is the home of the Deaf Village, which is co-ordinated and managed by Tracy Dager, an American missionary. Cheryl Erb, another missionary and five other staff members, one of whom is deaf, assist him.
This institution is run by the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf (CCCD) in collaboration with the Jamaica Association for the Deaf (JAD).
They are aiming at establishing a community of about 1000 hearing impaired people who will benefit from full-time employment, a place to live and a place to worship. There are plans afoot to construct nine more houses and two or three more apartment buildings, which should accommodate the Village.
Starting full-time operations on July 15, their chief product being manufactured is steam-bent rocking chairs. Currently, most of their lumber is cut to shape and size; steam is applied to soften it so that it can be easily bent for clamping. Heat is then applied through an oven-like machine to re-harden it for the final process.
The Deaf Village caters to the hearing impaired only, with residents coming through the CCCD and the JAD homes and schools across the island. All participants of the programme must be deaf and must be Christian adults. The chief entry requirement is that a participant should be the primary breadwinner for his or her family.
"Other hearing impaired persons may be considered if referred by churches or persons who know their history," said Mr. Dager. The institution, which has been in operation for the past ten years, gets no assistance, other than tax exemption, from the government.
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