With their compassionate love for the hearing impaired, a group of 6 students in Da Nang has been implementing their own ‘Silence’s Melody Class’ project.

Friendly atmosphere at ‘Silence’s Melody Class’

All of the talented youths are the first-year students at the University of Economics.

This project was initially inspired by how difficult and uncomfortable it is for the deaf to convey their ideas during their communication with ordinary people.

Under this meaningful project, regular classes, attended by both hearing-impaired and able-bodied youths, initially were organised at such local places offering care for the deaf as the Support Centre for the Deaf in Central Viet Nam, and the Social Support Centre.

Now, such events usually take place at coffee shops and public areas where those with hearing disabilities can contact and confidently mingle with able-bodied communities.

At first, the project’s developers found it very hard to encourage the deaf to join in the ‘Silence’s Melody Class’ because most of them are very afraid of communicating with able-bodied ones due to their inferiority complex about their unfortunate fates.

Ms Truong Thi Ngan, the Head of the city’s Deaf People’s Association, is in charge of introducing the participants to sign languages used in deaf communities, with the help of sign language interpreters.

Sign languages are languages that use manual communication to convey meaning. This can include simultaneously employing hand gestures, movement, orientation of the fingers, arms or body, and facial expressions to convey a speaker’s ideas. Sign languages often share significant similarities with their respective spoken language.

In particular, aside from the introduction of sign languages, such classes help the deaf access necessary life skills, including first aid for burns and sprains, the prevention and treatment of electric shocks, hemostasis and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Attending the meaningful classes, able-bodied people can learn more about how to use sign languages to effectively communicate with the hearing-impaired. 

For the deaf, they feel very happy to experience the love of humanity in life, which, in turn, encourages them to confidently integrate into the community.

Silence’s Melody Class’ project is now one of the 5 projects sponsored by the UPSHIFT which is an initiative sponsored by UNICEF Vietnam, and organsied by the Viet Youth Entrepreneurs (VYE).

UPSHIFT has brought new opportunities to Vietnamese youths, especially those from marginalised communities, to learn skills that they might need to bring about their own social impact projects.

Currently, ‘Silence’s Melody Class’ young developers are seeking more financial aid from the general public to fund their project for longer terms.

In the coming time, the group plans to launch exchanges, entitled ‘Singing Hands’, as a new addition to meaningful rendezvous for both deaf and able-bodied youths to promote their interaction.