The DMI blog aims to let people know about the deaf kids, teachers, pastors, schools and churches that DMI supports in developing countries, and encourage support for them by telling their amazing stories. Please share this blog with your friends.
In the last few weeks, the Philippines has been devastated by two massive typhoons. The damage to infrastructure is huge and is still being assessed. The human loss has been even greater, if such a thing can be measured. The rebuilding of property and of lives has begun but it will take a long time.
For some people, massive typhoons, metaphorically speaking, have come early and often in life and their impact has been devastating. Annette Bernadine Gutierrez is one of those people.
At 26 and in grade 12, Annette is one of the oldest students at The Fishermen of Christ Learning Center, DMI’s school for the deaf in Ligao. Her journey has been a long and often painful one, but one that is ultimately leading to success and promise for her future, thanks to her perseverance, the dedication and encouragement of her teachers, and DMI’s supporters around the world.
Annette’s family background is troubled. Her mother fell pregnant with her while working in Japan to earn money to support her family in the Philippines. She returned to the Philippines to have Annette but had little interest or ability to raise a deaf child. Annette has never been close to her mother and has never met her Japanese father.
Her mother remarried when Annette was 6 or 7 but her step-father was harsh with her and never made any effort to communicate with her. Similarly, she was never close to her half-siblings. For a short while, she attended a local hearing school but she was bullied and ostracised there, so Annette found herself in a very sad, lonely, silent world, with no education, no hope, and a damaged self-confidence which affects her to this day.
But God loves Annette.
Where others failed her, God blessed her; and where others shunned and abused, DMI reached out and healed.
Annette first came to the school sixteen years ago, entering kindergarten at age 10. This new world was stunningly different from anything else she had known before. Just knowing there was a deaf community was a breakthrough! But learning to communicate and study and fellowship within this community was a dream come true, one which helped her to slowly come out of her shell and express herself.
She lives off campus with her cousin and comes to school by ‘tricycle’ (a sort of taxi-bike). She works hard to earn money at her cousin’s produce shop, earning just enough for her transport to and from school, and for food. There, she works after school from 5:00pm to 11:00pm selling fruits, vegetables, meats and rice. That’s why, she tells me sheepishly, she’s always in a hurry to leave school. After work she does her laundry and homework. She sleeps at around midnight and gets up again at 4:00 or 5:00am – whenever the rooster crows – to cook breakfast for her cousin and her grandmother (living next door) and herself.
Annette arrives at the Fishermen Of Christ Learning Center (left) by tricycle (right).
I ask Annette what she would like to do when she graduates from school. She looks down, shy, withdrawn. Maybe be a janitor or a waitress, she says. These are fine jobs but having spoken with her head teacher, I know that she is capable of more. I make some suggestions to inspire her – as her teachers have done – but it’s hard for her to have bigger dreams.
I’m curious (and concerned) about her psyche.
I ask her about her heart, what thrills her, what interests her, where she finds her joy. Her face brightens and she tells me about her faith and attending the deaf church. She tells me she finds the Bible deeply inspiring, and worshiping in church wonderfully uplifting. Here, there is no bitterness, no regrets about the past; and no real fear of the future either. There is only joy and peace in praise and worship.
I’m buoyed as she shares this.
As she speaks so glowingly of the Bible in particular, I press in on this. What is it about the Bible that is so inspiring? She says that it is through the Bible that Jesus is revealed to her and that He is the joy of her life. It’s in walking with Jesus that she finds her peace, and it’s in the church that she can truly open her heart up to God. She sits to read the Bible at night at home after she’s finished all her work and duties.
To conclude, I ask Annette what she thinks her life might have been like if she had never come to the school. Surprisingly, she doesn’t understand the question. We (the translator and I) spend about thirty minutes reworking the question but she never seems to grasp what it is I’m asking. Perhaps the thought of never attending, never learning, never knowing Jesus is inconceivable to her and too horrible a thought to entertain.
I ask if I can take her photo. She looks pleased about this, stands tall in front of some santan flowers and smiles.
If you would like to know how you can support Annette or any of the kids or teachers at DMI’s schools, or help meet any of DMI’s needs, please click on the donate button below, or mail to info@deafmin.org
What an inspiring story about Annette. How to be happy with so little worldly goods and expectations! There is so much to learn from her story!