THIS week I had a lesson in signing, better known as sign language. And, no, I have not suddenly lost my hearing.
I was invited to Deaf TV's Zwakala talent competition where primary and high school pupils who cannot hear demonstrate their artistic skills in story telling, drama and in poetry in front of the cameras.
I met Barbara Peters, the show's public relations person , Candice Morgan, the executive producer and presenter, Chris Mostert, Zwakala's director, Troy Panaino, the show's cameraman, Christopher Harrison, the interpreter, and judges Isidingo actor Jack Devnarain, choreographer Tracey-Leigh Lawson and Modiegi Moime, the sign language coach and the only deaf judge.
The venue was Postmasters Studios in Auckland Park, Johannesburg.
I spent three hours with people who can't hear and when I emerged from the studio and a world that I had not known existed, I was humbled.
I was reduced to stunned silence by the sheer determination of the contestants and also the experience of being with a section of our society that the majority of us do not know.
I witnessed one of the fiercest fights for the hearts, minds and favours of the judges by the talented contestants.
And I can tell you that the competition is no walk in the park. That the contestants are deaf does not mean that the judges are lenient.
The contestants use signing to express themselves in dramatising their stories and reciting their poetry.
The competition requires the contestants to express themselves with discernible expressions as well as with body language .
The difficulty though, as far as the deaf contestants are concerned, is that they need to master the sign language.
Apart from their stories and their poetry being well told, with all the dramatic elements to be perfect, the signing too must be impeccable.
I believe that we must all master the language of deaf people.
There is absolutely no excuse for people who can hear to use "English signing". (I am ashamed to say that I did not know until this week, when Moime pointed it out, that such a thing existed in the world of the deaf.)
And in this competition the stakes are so high that only those contestants who get 60percent will have an opportunity to be seen by the public on television in September when the competition will be screened on SABC3.
Even though sometimes I felt that the judges were too harsh on the contestants, I came away enriched and very enlightened about the other world, that of the deaf, in our society. This is significant considering that South Africa has a population of around four million deaf people.
According to the 2001 South African census, about 20percent of all disabled people in South Africa have a hearing loss.
The next dates for judging are August 1 and 15. The results of the overall winners will be announced at a gala occasion on October 28.
Screening will take place on Sunday, September 11, on SABC3 at 9.30am and will be repeated on Monday, September 12, at 2pm. The competition is now in its fifth year.
The categories are:
Storytelling - Category A from age five to 10;
Storytelling - Category B from age 11 to 15;
Poetry - Category C from age 15 upwards; and
Drama - Category D from age five to 20.