Artistic talent among members of the Haiti Deaf Community should not have surprised anyone. Proving once again, “deaf can do”, the art class suggested by a recent service team was a huge success. Everyone had seen the great paper plate paintings created by local deaf artist, Esdros, but no one knew what a natural teacher he was. The team watched as Esdros taught three women and two men how to paint scenes of Leveque community life.
The hope is that the art students will be able to sell those paintings to future visiting service teams. To get that started, members of the March team were anxious to buy every painting they watch being created. Fortunately, there were enough paintings to go around, because some serious bidding would have ensued if each team member was not able to make a purchase.
A crowd favorite was the painting of Martha, one of the deaf with very few communication skills. Martha had never known how to spell or write her name. As others signed their name to their artwork, Martha was shown, stroke by stroke, how to write her name on the bottom of her house painting. There are no words, signed or spoken, to describe the pride on her face as she showed her friends the beautiful signature that she, too, had on her prized artwork.
After much discussion, Mackenson, the 410 Bridge community coordinator, and a respected member of the community, collected the cashed received from the art sales and the Deaf Leadership Council will determine the best way to compensate the artists, while saving a portion for future art supplies. This will be a great way to teach microenterprise skills and bring a little cash in for these budding artists.
