Promoting Sign Language Awareness During National Book Week

On 3 September 2013, an interactive South African Sign Language (SASL) awareness event took place during Deaf Awareness Week in Mamre, outside Atlantis.

Thirty members of the "Lief en Leed" group eagerly participated in a session that was facilitated by Miriam Ganiso (SASL representative of the Western Cape Language Committee), ably assisted by SASL interpreter Chris Tshabalala. Participants were introduced to Deaf culture, the SASL alphabet, fingerspelling and basic phrases.

The session was a collaborative venture between the Language Services and Library Services components of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS) as part of National Book Week.

Ms Bianca Meyer of Language Services said the event showed the commitment of DCAS to enabling people to work better together through the creation of awareness about Deaf people and the promotion of SASL.