A newly founded NPO, the Ability Hub, hosted a cook-off in Silverton recently.
The September 29 cook-off between hearing and non-hearing contestants took place at the Ditsong Museum in Silverton in honour of Deaf Awareness Month.
The cooking competition had the theme: “Cooking Up Awareness: Stirring Conversations, Bridging Deaf and Hearing Worlds”.
Three teams of two, one hearing and one non-hearing, took part in the competition.
The teams were as follows:
– Ida and David Nkosi from Atteridgeville
– Tamar Jaffer and Nadia Achmad from Queenswood
– Sonika and Zanika Kruger from Meyerspark,
Jaffer and Achmad (both hearing) emerged as the winners and their prizes included a 30-minute photography session sponsored by KhoibrewMzansi, a 60-minute full body massage sponsored by Reokheple Luxury Spa and flowers by Forever Flowers.
“As much as they can’t hear, their meals are fantastic and it was a honour to be competing with them. We’d do it again anytime,” Achmad said.
Married couple Zena and Ariel Forbes, who founded the NPO last month, reached out to the local deaf community in Silverton where the idea was conceptualised to hold a cook-off.
“Our focus is to bring deaf and hearing people together so it doesn’t feel like we’re isolating anyone, so the judges are mixed and the contestants are mixed. In my experience, to put it plainly, one of the misconceptions about deaf people is they are perceived to be dumb or uneducated as if they don’t have ideas just like us, basically taking their voice away from them,” said Zena Forbes.
The Forbes also run a media company that helps disabled residents venture into media-related careers, ensuring that whichever disability they live with does not hamper their creativity.
Watch here: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1043599270420491
She says she first grew an interest in Sign language while observing a couple at her local church who would sign to communicate with each other.
“I attend church in Eersterust and there’s a couple that I befriended so I would sit on the one side and always watch how the Sign language interpreter interprets, not always understanding but always loving how Sign language is being demonstrated. When I saw them she would have to write to communicate with me and then something sparked in me that encouraged me to want to learn this.”
She held various fundraisers to try to conjure up money to study Sign language at a tertiary level, though her efforts did not yield the desired result.
A private company was gracious enough to sponsor her to studies towards a Diploma in Sign Language Interpreting at Wits. She is now completing her final level, the sixth.
“We want to be the people that people think of when they want to learn more about the deaf community, we want to help in that regard. The reason that I’m here, the reason that I am able to sign is because of someone who helped, someone who paid for my studies, so we are hoping to help with things like that. Say there’s a deaf person that wants to do hair, we want to be able to provide a learnership or singing lessons to a blind person and we have a high focus on media that we aim to approach government on,” she said.
She began translating Sign language at her local church soon after and even helps deaf residents communicate with officers at police stations.
She says the cook-off is not a pity party, but one of empowerment and encourages locals to not look down on the deaf with pity but as equals. She also thanks sponsors Fruit Stop and Pick n Pay among others for their contribution.
One of the judges was a renowned figure in the deaf community, former DTV host, Candice Morgan.
Morgan was crowned Miss Deaf South Africa 2004 at the Performer Theatre in Pretoria. She was also crowned Miss Deaf World in July that year in Prague, Czechia.
“We want the community to see and be aware of how you are supposed to communicate and participate with deaf people and bridge that communication gap. There isn’t a hearing group and a deaf group, we can be together and do everything as one, and we can interact,” she says.
Morgan says that acknowledging Deaf Awareness Month is paramount to the advancement of deaf people, reiterating Zena’s sentiments regarding not pitying the deaf.
“Most importantly, we want people to realise that the community has people that are capable of doing it themselves. We don’t want you to say ‘shame, he can’t do this, she can’t do that because they are deaf’ or feel the need to lead us as children, no, we want everyone to know that we are here, we are visible we can do many things, same as you,” she says.
Morgan says that not having a voice doesn’t exclude the deaf community from being treated as human. She also believes more resources should be dedicated to the deaf education and empowerment.
“Number one is acceptance and then the empowerment of deaf edu2ation so that people can learn about each other and open doors regarding employment and opportunities, they’ll be able to do more,” she says.
Morgan acknowledged the Ability Hub for its non-conventional approach to creating awareness.
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