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ADS President visiting the Deaf Clubs in Argentina and Uruguay

Monday, 01 March 2010

On Friday 8 January 2010, my Argentinean friends took us to visit the main Deaf Club in Buenos Aires. It is called the “Asociacion de Sordomudos de Ayusa Mutua” (ASAM). The building was founded in 1912 and has three storeys in addition to the basement. We were warmly welcomed by the Secretary and some of the club committee members. Their club President was away on a one-month holiday. The Deaf Club is really an old building, very much like 1950s, but a big party will be held in 2012 to celebrate their Clubs 100th year’s anniversary. He said that the club has 400 members.

A few cars were parked in the quiet street with a majority of club members catching public transport. There is a clubroom with bar and kitchen facility, a TV set and a hall like our clubroom. Downstairs, they have six classrooms and an open meeting room; which they earn a good income to help with their club finance. On the ground floor there is an office, a board meeting room and a sports room with office and trophy room that holds football, basketball, volleyball and ten pin bowling trophies. Some photos of past executive committee members hang on the wall. The sport club runs the bar and cooks hot meals to sell, this makes a small profit. The night we were there they very kindly provided us with a free meal and a bottle wine. A bottle of wine costs $15 peso, equivalent to NZ$6; this is really cheap in comparison with our clubs prices of $15 to $25 per bottle. The club is open during business hours from 7pm till 5am, both Friday and Saturday.

On Wednesday 20 January 2010, my friends took us to visit the Mar del Plata Deaf Club on the south coast of Argentina, about 410 km from Buenos Aires. It is called “Asociacion de Sordomudos del Mar del Plata” (ASMAR). We met the Club President who warmly welcomed us and we spent some time chatting with a few Deaf people. The clubroom and the committee room upstairs were founded in 1956. The club opens from 6pm till 9pm because they usually go home for dinner or go out to dine. A gentleman from the club showed us some photos that had been taken of us when he was a WFD delegate for Argentina at the WFD Conference in Brisbane, Australia in 1999. We were pleased to meet him again. Another elderly man, and founder of the club talked about his life and his many years of loyalty to his Deaf Club, he had been the President for 22 years beating our ex-President Wallace Williams who clocked up of 19 years.

On Saturday, 23 January 2010, two Deaf Uruguayans were tour guides for my wife Lynette and me. We visited the Montevideo Deaf Club called the “Asociacion de Sordo de Uruguay” and met the Club President. He showed us around the club, it is almost the same size as our ADS building. Downstairs, they have a sports hall, a clubroom with lounge bar, pool/football table and a senior citizens room where Deaf people attend every Saturday. Upstairs, there is a classroom for teaching sign language. The main hall is used for mini-football, basketball and other sports. The board meeting room is covered with photos and memorabilia. The president asked me to look at the light switches under the long table. This is for chairperson’s use to control board meetings. If they ignore the chairperson and refuse to stop talking, the chairman flicks the switch and the lights go off and no-one can talk because they are in total blackout. He said that the club has 120 members and they have revenue of US$20,000 per year. Most cars are parked in the street until the closing time of 9 pm because they go out for dinner from 9 pm to 11 pm.

Kevin Pivac

20 February 2010

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