Deaf-Can is a coffee shop in Kingston, Jamaica about an hour and a half away from JDV. It’s a place that shows that people who are deaf are capable of doing anything a person who can hear does. So what does deaf mean to you? Deaf is just another term for not having hearing. It does not mean that people who are deaf cannot do the same things people who can hear do. People who are deaf can communicate, read, write, play sports. Just because they cannot hear does not mean it limits what they can and can not do.

When they opened Deaf-Can they started out to spread the word that deaf can. After they started, a barista from another coffee shop came and helped them become certified baristas to where they can make coffee and sell it. The barista only stayed for two days to teach them how to properly make the coffee. By the the time he left approximately 25 people in the community had become certified baristas and were able to help start the business. We have a team member that is a barista in a America, Amanda Kohler, and she was able to experience the difference in coffee process here and the coffee process in America. She said it was an incredible experience to see the different baristas and how little time it took for the Deaf-Can coffee shop to grow and spread. She also said this helped grow her relationship with God because it showed her that in America we have more than we need and the we should not rely on world to provide for our needs but that we should rely on God. In America she usually only sees the end process, but today at Deaf-Can she was able to see the entire process from beginning to end, from the grinding of the beans to the selling of the coffee.

We had arrived back at JDV around 1:30 to eat lunch. After we all finished eating and we went our separate ways. Some of us painted, while others mixed concrete, and then there were those who poured the concrete. We all worked really hard.  This evening all of the residents at JDV joined us for dinner and thanked us for coming to JDV to work and show God’s Word through us by traveling here to work with them. Each resident took turns signing one song each, children and the adults, and then they all signed a song together. After this we asked the residents to join us as we played cards. Then they all returned home and the night was over, allowing us time to rest and to prepare for another work day tomorrow.

Haley Roberts