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The deaf community does not have the opportunity to hear the gospel, and Cheryl Kaster wants to open the church's ears to the problem.
Na Lima Aloha helps train
deaf ministry workers and makes
hearing Christians aware of unique
problems faced by the deafBy Pat Gee
pgee@starbulletin.com"On any given Sunday in Hawaii, there are less than 100 deaf people in churches," she estimates. There is only one church exclusively for the deaf in the state, the Hawaii Church for the Deaf in Kapahulu, although several churches do schedule interpreters for a particular service, said Kaster, founder and president of Na Lima Aloha, a deaf services ministry.
At all the hearing churches, the deaf are largely ignored and left out of other church activities, like Bible studies, and the pastor is unable to minister to them on personal problems, Kaster said.
"People say, 'Well, they can go to the deaf church,' but why should they be relegated to one church" that may be too far a distance for some? she said.
Some of the interpreters provided during services are not qualified, are difficult to understand or are too slow to keep up with the speaker, she added.
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"In a way, it's like the blind leading the blind. As Christians we are offending the culture of the people we are trying to reach. ... Of all the important messages, and the gospel is the message of eternal life, why put someone unskilled to be responsible for communicating that message to the deaf?" Kaster asked.These problems motivated Kaster to found Na Lima Aloha in 1999, a nonprofit, interdenominational group dedicated to organizing activities to equip deaf ministry workers, promoting awareness among hearing Christians of the unique problems of the deaf and serving as an advocate for the civil rights of the deaf.
"My role is to help the church see the need, to catch the vision" through the classes, she said.
Her expertise at signing is still at the beginner's level, but her goal is to be an advocate rather than an interpreter. As part of the services provided by Na Lima, Kaster helps deaf people who are having problems receiving help from government and private agencies, she said.
"The deaf community is a unique culture, like that of a foreign country," Kaster said. "They are not 'just like me, but deaf.' Their lives are so tremendously impacted because of their communication disability. The main difference is that I can pick up a book, watch television and understand what people are saying, but they can't."
Kaster, a legal secretary for most of her life, became aware of the problems of the deaf when she was a distributor for HerbaLife, a vitamin-supplement company, and had trouble communicating with a deaf customer.
In 1998, Kaster began taking sign-language classes in case she had to communicate with other deaf customers, but later "felt the Lord was telling me I needed to do it to share the gospel, because the deaf had a far greater need for that, not HerbaLife," she said with her big trademark laugh.
Jeanne Prickett, administrator for the Hawaii Center for the Deaf & the Blind school, said the average deaf person has a third- or fourth-grade reading level. There is a wide range of cognitive ability, however, and some do go on to college.
"You can't read English or any spoken language (easily) if you've never heard it. Unless a parent provides them with a language base, there's nothing for a deaf person to attach the written symbol to. You need an auditory symbol of a word to have a basis for the written symbol," she explained.
For people who do not have a place to worship, there is a huge need for more deaf churches, but because there are so few deaf -- one-tenth of 1 percent of the population -- it is not considered a significant need, Prickett said.
Kaster said there is a desperate need for a church run by a deaf pastor who can automatically relate to them through a common bond. The Hawaii Church for the Deaf has a hearing pastor.
"The hearing, middle-class culture is not necessarily relevant to the deaf culture," she said.
The common use of personal experiences to convey biblical principles in church is not relevant to the deaf if the stories include talk about a new car and a four-bedroom home, she said.
"The English language is full of idioms" that do not translate well through an interpreter, and "hearing jokes are different from deaf jokes, and they don't make sense" to the deaf, Kaster said.
Kaster can be reached by calling 348-4150 or 528-0818, or via www.na-lima-aloha.com.
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