KALPOINT.com (KPDC): Please tell us something about yourself, your education, family and brought up..

Mr. Zeeshan Hamid (ZH): I was born in Pakistan, and I went through the same kind of circumstances which every average Pakistani faces. There was no mobile, television, and internet at that time. In that environment, I was very conscious about availing the opportunities and sharing them with others from very small age. I finished my graduation and went to Germany, where I did language diplomas and I got a chance to work with the federal government as an interpreter of German to South Asian languages. I spent 8 years working in all public services in Germany. I used to contribute into the different social works in terms of helping new comers as well as senior Asian citizens helping them voluntarily for the different aspects of daily life. My concept of ‘Sawab’ is that when you get true happiness, it’s your ‘Sawab’ and when you live happily in the world and people love you, it’s “Jannat”. I was keen to share whatever I had with others.

My wife was doing masters, and when she finished her PhD, we went to Australia. I did some great achievements as far as 2nd profession as a voice artist is concerned. I joined my wife when we moved to Australia. During staying in Australia, we had opportunity to go into different countries working for sign language. We did visit, Beirut, Cairo, Delhi, Istanbul etc. We did a lot of work all over the world with a small baby. Later, I joined DEF. In the meantime, the situation of Pakistan became not very sustainable so we reduced the number of visits into Pakistan. We did believe that the common deaf of Pakistan needs our help. She designed different courses and other resources to learn English with the help of sign language, and interpreting course for deaf in India as well as for Pakistan. She wanted to provide the same resources and learning opportunities for the deaf in Pakistan. But the question was who would manage it in Pakistan, so I had a feel that I would present myself to get this work done. Because, first of all I am a Pakistani by myself; second, despite of all circumstances I want to return little amount of those valuable recognitions which Pakistan gave me, back. I am very happy to be here and having successes in terms of having local professional supports.

We did have feeling about the uncertainty and the crime rate in Pakistan. But it would not stop me to go for my work; as a matter of fact there are always some risks when you go for some great missionaries. I have been very happy when I communicate with deaf youngsters having low-skilled sign language. In sign language, there are 3 major factors working for the success of communication are your body language, your eye expressions as well as your hand gestures. I am lucky that I am very good at the first 2 factors. I see true love in the eyes of deaf youngsters after some talk which gives me a huge amount of mental energy.

Then me and my family moved to the UK in 2006. I think UK has much more opportunities as far as the flexible communication and services are concerned. You find big number of South Asian community in UK; in fact it’s an advantage in the comparison to live in Europe. My son 12 yrs, Daniel, got very happy when he ultimately came into the UK, that makes me also happy.

I do promote Urdu language through my singing. I also did Urdu teaching for different countries for the local grown up youngsters. Robindar Nath Tegor was the most famous Bengali poet, writer, and intellectual. I was the first singer to compose and sing one of the translations of his poetry. It was a Hamd-e-Bari Taa’la, although he was a Hindu, but he wrote a very beautiful Hamd. It was recorded and released in Canada. It can be watched on Utube with the link of Zeeshan and then Hamd-e-Baari.

KPDC: Please tell us briefly about the history, main functions and objectives of Deaf Empowerment Foundation? Also tell us about your responsibilities and how long have you been associated with it?

ZH: Actually, the Deaf Empowerment Foundation came to Pakistan only 2 months back. I am trying to establish a platform for deaf here in Pakistan. I always wanted to go to a village and do something for the people, especially for children. I just wanted to do something for them because I believe that when I would give something valuable to them, they would feel stronger. So, I have come here with this concept. I am trying to arrange all materials and resources of teaching them to make them better persons. Soon, we will be able to make all this material available online. We have a lot of courses designed in UK especially for PSL as well as ISL. We do want to send the most intelligent people in Pakistan to India for further studies, who will have better capabilities to deliver their skills into the deaf of Pakistan. I wish there would be a sign language diploma given by the ministry of special education.

DEF has been providing different courses in sign language for English upto BA program in India. It could be great if the government of Pakistan would take the deaf education as an important issue for the sake of further generations. Contrarily, developed countries emphasize most on education.

We are trying to convince people that deaf can be an active component of the society. Also, we want that government should acknowledge sign language as an officially recognized language, make it compulsory to have interpreter of sign language in all the universities and also there should be a diploma for sign language under education ministry.

KPDC: Do you have any contact with the government in this regard?

ZH: We don’t have any such contact with the government in this regard. Government officials do come to us; they give speech, have very hopeful talk to people like us and then, we have been waiting. I would suggest that private organizations should come forward and do something in this regard. The initiative must be taken with the help of hearing people. There is a bid need to give deaf first class citizenship as well as deal with them as a first class citizen in their own country.

KPDC: Would you suggest that everyone in a society should gain basic knowledge about sign language to have better communication with the special people?

ZH: Yes it is extremely important to learn sign language for the hearing people as well if they want to move into the deaf world. This will help bridge the communication gap between the deaf and the hearing ones. There are many examples for example there is an interpreter in PAD who is hearing and has learnt sign language. He learnt sign language from ABSA School. He is doing administration, interpreting and lot of other work. He is a very useful voice of the deaf. We should develop society into a state where the deaf people should not need any help or support from others; instead they are able to use their abilities to create resources for them.

Actually, sign language is the best and most effective source of communication for the deaf. Speaking is not the source of communication for deaf. Sign language consists of body language, movement, hand gestures and eye expression. Every country has its own sign language standards, including a complete grammatical structure which is different from the others, but exceptionally Pakistan’s Sign Language (PSL) and Indian Sign Language (ISL) are almost 80% similar to each other.


KPDC: How do you see the role of other organizations for deaf like Pakistan Association of Deaf etc.? Are they doing well enough for the welfare of deaf?

ZH: Pakistan Association for the Deaf, PAD has branches all over Pakistan. PAD is playing productive role, more than any other organization as far as some educational projects for the deaf are concerned. Its really sad that the PAD has a very small place. The request for the bigger place for Deaf Community centre as well as school has been submitted to the City Government of Karachi and we hope for a positive action. One problem is that due to the electricity crises in Pakistan, we also face power failure during the classes at PAD. But I never stop my classes even if there is no light. Because I believe that we should not let the time of our children get lost due to this problem. The people at PAD are very cooperative and they are well-potential to do education projects for the betterment of deaf youngsters. The only thing is the lack of enough resources to follow the speed of the development in the established countries in all aspects as well as the deaf education. I would like to thank Kalia Group on behalf of deaf of our country, that they have provided infrastructure to PAD. I have been working with PAD for quite sometime now; I am teaching basic English literacy according to the UK curriculum, called ESOL (English for the Speaker of Another Language). These children are not as disciplined as the other hearing children. They are not much aware of different aspects of the life which are necessary. I always admired Mother Teresa; she was really a brave woman who spent all her life for the welfare of others. People working for the social welfare should try to follow the footprints of Mother Teresa.

There are different NGOs working around I have not gone through all of them yet. It would be great if other individuals do come forward and contribute in this regard voluntarily.


KPDC: What role do you think parents of special children can play in making their children a useful component of the society?

ZH: I am also giving one-to-one education to some students. I have to convince their parents. Actually, the deaf children are totally ignored and isolated in our society. People don’t believe that these children can get involved into a productive activity.

The role of parent is the most important in the children’s development, even for the hearing. Parents are the first role model for a child. There is a lot to say in this regard. I do give lectures for the parents counseling n and I find that most of parents are unaware of the basic knowledge how to behave and tackle their deaf child. Usually, parents try to force their deaf children to take speech therapy just to make these children look like the normal child. They don’t want their children to use sign language for communication. This attitude is damaging for the development of the deaf children.

Sign language is the basic source of communication and it helps deaf communicate better. There is a lot to say for the parent. In short, special children are very sensitive and they need special care as well.


KPDC: Any message for the youth of Pakistan?

ZH: I would like the deaf youngsters to contribute in this missionary in terms of developing healthy society on the base of equivalence in social rights, consumer rights. Especially those who are financially sound, they should try to make friend at least one poor child of your age. And then they should try to educate him. It’s ok to help poor financially but it’s better to help them by providing some education. Secondly, I would request the children to stop using coke. It’s very damaging for the human being especially for children.

Question: What steps has DEF taken in order to support tertiary education for deaf people and related academic research?
( Naeem Akhter ,New York)

ZH: The Deaf Empowerment Foundation has just arrived in Pakistan 2 months ago. I landed in Islamabad to visit different parts of Pakistan and seek information about the condition of deaf. First, I got to Rawla Kot, there I found out that in the whole Azad Kashmir there was only 1 school for deaf. There were 3 girls but they were not too much familiar with English. A lady had opened that school. But it’s not a very good condition indeed. Deaf in Islamabad were in a better condition. Children there were good at English. I went to Rawalpindi, they were also good at English. Then I went to Lahore in January this year. I visited Government College for Deaf and the school beside it. I found that there were 27 teachers out of which 24 were hearing and only 3 were deaf. It was amazing to have hearing teachers for deaf. Some teachers, who are hearing, they know sign language, that can be justified to some extent but normally hearing teachers are not good in sign language. I asked deaf students to answer a questionnaire in sign language but I found that their level of English was very low.

In Lahore, there is no deaf organization, club or deaf community centre. The deaf do meet in the evenings on an opened road where the heavy traffic is going on next to a Chai wala, that should be so called their community meeting place. Even, a second-class citizen should have social rights, I think the Pakistani deaf are Pakistanis and hopefully they are the first class citizens of Pakistan. At the same time, I am happy that the Punjab government has provided a full deaf school, deaf college and hostel in Lahore. But they should also try to provide qualified teachers for them. We need to change this perception that deaf can’t be productive and useful component of a society. Actually, deaf can be more excellent than the hearing. Their sixth sense is very much activated in most of the times.



QUESTION: How can we create better employment opportunities for special people, especially the deaf, in our country? Would you like to share something about it? (Naeem Akhter, New York)

ZH: There are 2 ways; either people open a shop like cyber café etc., and they only employ the deaf people in this shop. But, this would be a labor work and wouldn’t be more productive. So, we should try to create productive and creative employment opportunities for them so that they can also develop some skills and can use their mental abilities. I would request all the None-Resident Pakistanis (NRPs) to give small hand to Pakistan. I am also a teacher of Urdu in Canada, Netherlands and Germany. When I usually give lectures to youngsters their, I try to persuade them that after completing your education, you should visit Pakistan, which is your parent’s country, because this is your moral duty. Give small amount of your huge resources to those who can’t hear or see. This can be done by helping them in obtaining education or providing them a computer etc. So, we need contribution, people should come forward and help for the education of deaf in Pakistan. If you give small hand according to your capacity it would be great. When these deaf children grow old, they would become a good example and would be more productive for the society and country.


Question: How would you compare the rights available to the deaf people in Pakistan with those available in the developed countries ?
(Usman Khan, Karachi)

ZH: I think one should be at least able to avail all the opportunities to become a successful, healthy and aware person in his or her country and society and become a good example. In Pakistan and in South Asia, if you evaluate the situation for a common person, especially the deaf, on this ground, you will feel sorry. Despite of all the lectures and promises from the government authorities, and some individual efforts from NGOs like Kalia Group’s KrG, there is a huge need of teachers and proper teachers training. You can see the example in the developed country, you will learn that if you want to polish your young generation and want to make them successful, first produce good teachers. The question is that how to produce good teacher. I would say that Pakistan is no more a poor country. Pakistan has good intelligence, and resources. I have lived in many countries of the world, I see there a source of development and their sources, the message which I got from there is that if you don’t have such sources or resources, the best thing you show first of all is the attitude. First develop a common language, like English. Then try to bring yourself up to that level to talk to the developed countries. The thing is that developed countries always look forward to help underdeveloped countries but you have to show that we are very enthusiastic and sincere and we are ready to take all the help and advice from you and we will soon inform you about the positive outcomes. The developed countries can send expert like teachers, not necessarily the money, to help you continuously. And they will be very happy to know that you have obtained some positive result and someday you come at their level and they will shake hand with you saying that you are equal to me. This happens in the world. My message is that those who are not deaf should come forward and contribute for the welfare of the deaf. They are in a very poor condition, although they are getting blanket and bread but I want to give them education. I would say that those teachers who are claiming to be teacher of deaf; they need to be a teacher first. That’s why I am training teachers.

Additionally, I would like to request all people that please don’t use term ‘duff and dumb’ for the deaf people. In fact, they are only deaf, not the dumb. Technically speaking, if someone can’t hear right from day one of his life, they don’t know how to use their ability to speak. So, if you never ever heard any word, you can’t speak words yourself. So, such people are only deaf, not dumb. Unless it is proved that they are dumb. In Pakistan, people insist deaf to go for the speech therapy, but actually this is totally beneficial for the hearing people and has very little to do with the deaf. If a person is deaf and if he starts reading lips, he would try speaking some incomplete words, so it would be good for others not for the deaf himself. The benefit for the deaf is that they learn complete sign language and try to use it instead of lip reading.


KPDC: Thank you so much for being here and enlightening us with your thoughts. C U on Net.
ZH: I also enjoyed being here. C U On Net 2.



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