sound of silence

In summer last year, i went to share some learning with a local school which belonged to a non-elitist category. The scene of morning assembly, without sound, only signs, it was such a different world, whose threshold i stood on. Although i stood at a considerable distance, watching and being a silent witness, all the while praying for strength, strength to overcome fear, fear of unfamiliarity, fear of unpredictability, fear of difficulty to connect, a most bizarre thing happened. A full assembly of deaf and dumb children marching in step to the beat of drum-roll.
As I entered the class room and took my seat among the back benchers, everyone was so curious to see me there. I was asked by the facilitator present to introduce myself, and as i made signs of the moon and star, for once having a name like moonstar, served me in good comprehension stead. Everyone there wanted to know what my real class was,"are you really old enough to be in fourth class?" "but you look so big.."
The lost no time in communicating signs of muscle and food to mean how much i must eat to look the muscular self that i did. There was a camaraderie there that relaxed me and welcomed me into their world, where a touch on the nose meant they were talking about their mother and a touch on the mouth was symbolic of father.