Deaf Federation of SA hosts a silent walk in Cape Town

The Deaf Federation of South Africa in the Western Cape says that this year’s Silent Walk is extra special. That’s in light of South African Sign Language being declared the 12th official language in the country earlier this year.

During the annual event, hearing participants walked through Newlands in Cape Town with earplugs to raise funds during Deaf Awareness Month. Braving the rainy Cape weather, hearing and deaf participants donned their walking shoes.

The annual five-kilometre walk, now in its seventh year, raises much-needed funds for DeafSA in the Western Cape. It’s a not-for-profit organisation which serves the deaf community.

“The whole of South Africa, DeafSA, our management team, the whole of South Africa, we are very excited and we have been waiting for many years for this to happen so we are very happy that finally South African sign language, our language, our right, our human right, our language, our mandate, is now the 12th official language and it easy because now we will have access to many opportunities, and we can build better relationships and awareness as well so we are very happy that SASL is now our 12th official language,” says Jabaar Mohamed, Western Cape Director, DeafSA.

About 300 eager walkers have taken to the streets in support. One hearing mother says walking with earplugs was an eye-opener to what the deaf community experiences daily.

“He is the only one in the family who is deaf and he must adapt to us as it’s not everybody in the family that can adapt to him, and the walk, today is my first walk, the silent walk and to me it was, I couldn’t hear and I had to make use of my sight and I couldn’t even hear. I had to see where I walk, I saw cars that were hooting but then I couldn’t hear that and to me personally I was in a world of the deaf,” says Emmy Parenzee, walker.

Her son says that there are still many challenges facing the deaf and hearing impaired.

“To work and to find a job is very difficult because I’m deaf and I want to be helping my mom and I want to find a job and it’s difficult to in a normal world,” says Ghivann Fortuin.

“I feel it’s really wonderful to see all the support from the hearing community, and what I’m hoping is that the hearing community gets more awareness and also how to learn sign language. It’s the same like learning any other language such as Afrikaans, Xhosa, but I hope that with SA sign language being the 12th official language that we can have more deaf coming into jobs,” says Leigh Mcdonald-Dyers, walker.

“Growing up seeing your parents that are deaf you see a lot of challenges that they go through and you as a coda you tend to help with the challenges. As an interpreter, you know what it feels like as the deaf people going through difficulties and things like that and I think hence I went into the sign language field,” says Kevin Petersen, walker.

Some of the hearing walkers have encouraged people to learn to sign to strengthen communication with their deaf counterparts.

“I’m a dancer so I have a partner that’s deaf, so in order for us to communicate, I need to sign and I’ve learnt to sign and doing this walk was a very good experience because you need to sign and you can’t speak,” says Deborah van der Berg, walker.

The day’s festivities ended with a lucky draw.

Video: Deaf Awareness Month – Deaf Federation of SA hosts a silent walk in Cape Town