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In this section you will find a selection of some pages excerpted from my book.

Chapter: 1

Bright sunshine greeted me as my father led me out of the hospital corridor and Into a waiting horse-drawn carriage. After three months of isolation in a lonely hospital room , longing to see my family and friends, I was happy that at last I was finally going home

During the long ride home from the hospital, I fell asleep and woke up to find a hand lifting me and carrying me into my grandparents  home. The room was crowded  with relatives, and knowing I was home, I suddenly felt awake. As each of my relatives came forward to hug and greet me, I sensed  something was wrong. No one was saying anything to me, and there wasn't a sound in the room. I remember Grandma coning toward me and bending over me, as I gazed into her face, I realized  that her lips were moving and I tried to make sense of what she was saying, but I wasn't hearing anything.

Little did I know that I was about to embark on a long and painful journey into a silent world of no return.   

Chapter: 2

In the weeks that followed I remained confined to my bed, unable to keep my balance. Perhaps I was too sick to notice how quiet the home had became, but after a time I became perplexed. The lack of sounds everywhere was beginning to bother me. My family's  voices were as familiar to me as their faces , and I fully expected to hear their voices as well as seeing  their faces. Though I had been in the hospital for three months, I never believed I had been there. I had a strange feeling that the hospital experience was just a bad dream.

Chapter: 3

Since I was unable to hear the voices of my family and friends when we were in a group, I would sit and watch them as they talked. I longed for the days when I was able to enjoy easy relaxing communication with friends without gazing into their faces. I had gotten pretty good at lip-reading, but I didn't realize that I was missing so many words. My friends laughed at how I got my words mixed up, but I soon  saw how funny it was and learned to laugh along with them.

To my dismay, I soon found out that many words looked alike when people spoke them, especially names and places. I couldn't tell the difference between Mummy and Bobby, for example.  As I got older I learned to look for other cues. It was like guessing  a couple of words crossed out in a sentence. I was young, and I had a lot to learn. I learned about facial expressions and body language, which offered  some of the biggest cues to  words that were invisible on people's lips.

Chapter: 4.

When I began sewing children clothes, I wasn't sewing for the money, I simply loved to sew. For me, sewing was a hobby, something I really enjoyed doing. Best of all, It was good to know that I was doing something to help others and getting respect in return. My neighbors  paid me what they wanted, or what they could afford.. At this time, having communication with many of  my neighbors was helping me to feel more confident.

Chapter: 5.

...Later I walked outside. It was a bright and beautiful day. The air was cool and comforting, and surprisingly I was not sad  at all. As I walked through the tall grass towards the hills, with the cool breeze streaming over me, I knew I was willing to accept God's plan for my life, even though I knew there would be a hard struggle ahead......Suddenly I had an impulse to climb the hills, something I had not done since I lost my hearing more than twelve years before. I sat on a small rock looking up at the hills. As I sat there,  my thoughts drifted back to the days  when my cousins and I played hide-and-seek in the hills and caves and the surrounding hideaways. I closed my eyes and suddenly I was a seven-year-old again playing in the hills and caves.  I could almost hear my playmates calling to me. I thanked God for such vivid and beautiful memories, which I knew would always be a part of my life.