Hearing impaired make paper cranes for Japanese victims

Hearing impaired individuals attended an origami workshop organized by the Gualandi Volunteer Service Programme Inc. (GVSP) at the Fr. Joseph Gualandi Social Center of the Gualandi Mission for the Deaf in Banilad, Cebu City.

The workshop held in in commemoration of the annual peace event that gathers a thousand cranes (paper birds) to the Hiroshima, Japan bombing victims, aims to emphasize the significance of world peace and urges  to stop making nuclear weapons, war and violence worldwide.

Origami is a Japanese art of paper folding.

Yoshiya Shiratori, a second year Physics major at Yokohama University in Japan, assisted the GVSP in its program. Yoshi taught the participants how to fold the Origami paper into different shapes.

A brown belter in karate, he also taught the deaf children at the Lapu-Lapu City Sped Center basic karate lessons to help defend themselves against physical and sexual abuse.

Meanwhile, the GVSP congratulated its new batch of volunteers and deaf advocates who completed the basic Filipino sign language (FSL) fluency course.

The volunteers underwent a series of comprehensive trainings in deaf culture awareness, non-manual signal and basic theatrical skills, basic FSL sentence construction and level 1 FSL competency course.

They also immersed in the deaf community for a series of outreach programs and volunteering activities.

The GVSP is inviting everyone to volunteer and enroll in free basic sign language classes every Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Gualandi Mission for the Deaf social center at no. 5 Emerald Street, St. Michael Village, Banilad, Cebu City. Interested parties may contact John Paul Maunes at 416-7381 or 0932-2027333.