This blog first appeared on the Huffington Post Canada here .

By Maddison Van Balkom and Emily Major-Girard

Events in Lesotho typically begin with a hymn or a song, followed by a prayer. At a recent sexual education workshop for deaf students hosted by Help Lesotho, the first morning’s hymn started with grins from ear to ear and one small difference: the hymn was silent.

The training room — despite being filled by 63 eager students — was dramatically quieter than the usual cheers and singing that accompany the start of a program. The melody of the hymn was beautifully carried through sign language; a deeply moving and somewhat overwhelming … Read more →