If anything, his deafness was a gift that opened up opportunities for him and several others.

Through the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde's (DLS-CSB) School of the Deaf and Applied Sciences (Sdeas), Benjo and other deaf alumni have found a vehicle to exercise their entrepreneurial skills by franchising an outlet of Deck Coffee, situated just within the premises of the school canteen. The coffee outlet is fully owned and operated by a 15-man Deaf Benildean Multipurpose Cooperative (DBMC), chaired by Sigua.

The idea to form a cooperative for the deaf community in the school was hatched when a group of deaf students joined and won the top prize in the Youth Empowerment Spark Competition held last February, a youth project supported by the Dutch Government in the Philippines. The deaf team bested three other contenders from other known business schools.

Deck's Coffee-CSB branch, wholly owned by the cooperative, formally open Wednesday, to be attended by its private partners and project sponsors, namely the youth-led Philippine Resources for Sustainable Development, Inc. (PRSD), the National Youth Commission and the Dutch National Commission for Sustainable Development.

Staffed by a 15-man team, all of whom are deaf alumni of Sdeas, it is the first of its kind in the country. Sigua's brainchild, he initially thought of putting up a pizza joint but the enterprising group decided to pursue a "more established option" of a café` that would cater to the coffee-drinking bunch of Benildeans.

Aside from its various coffee concoctions, Deck's Coffee also has pasta, panini and salad offerings. The menu is laid out in a neat white slip where customers may place an order by checking the corresponding box beside each item. The group also plans to post a sign board that will help customers communicate with the staff but organizers believed that customers acting out their orders through sign language will help foster confidence among them.

The staff is trained by operations men of Deck Coffee, which has several branches in Metro Manila while there will also be trained interpreters available.

Sigua said he gets his inspiration from people who have been very supportive of the deaf community of CSB.

"There are very little opportunities in the Philippines, especially for the deaf. We are very lucky that we have received proper training and guidance from DLS-CSB and the opportunity that the Spark project has given us," he said though an interpreter.

Charlie Jayco, business track coordinator, said the café crew made use of the P350,000-seed money provided by the Dutch youth commission as initial capital, guaranteed by a fund provided by the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (Icco).

Since 1991, there are already close to 300 deaf graduates, most of them coming from poor families that can barely support their education. At present, there are 124 deaf students, 98 of them recipients of scholarship grants.

Matt Navalta, employment and business opportunities coordinator of Sdeas, said the pioneering project will make role models out of the deaf alumni of the school by not letting their deafness from getting in the way of their success.

"This is a breakthrough in the entire deaf community. We hope to replicate its success in the next years to give other deaf persons the opportunity to start their own cooperative," he said, adding that the mere term of "deaf" distinguishes them as a group that has its own set of culture and unique language that must be respected.

He said Sdeas has intensified its effort to encourage more companies and organizations to give its deaf graduates a chance to prove their competence in a workplace, with a belief that given equal opportunities, direction and support, they can also become productive members of society.

Jayco said it's high time that society looks differently at the deaf as more than just a burden and an unproductive lot.

With the stiff competition and very little opportunities, the deaf and hard-of-hearing face a tough challenge indeed but given proper training and direction from the community, they will show their true strength of character that some individuals who have complete faculties intact lack.

"Many of them are indeed poor but there is a misconception that if you are deaf, then you are dumb. The deaf is just a neglected sector. Through this project, we are confident that the deaf community will be able to showcase their capabilities despite the language barrier," Jayco said.

Robert Sagun, executive director of PRSD, said the Sdeas project is only the first stage of their thrust to empower the youth. With funding from various international financing institutions, PRSD hopes to engage youth from other sectors to become entrepreneurs also.

"A great number of young people have the potential to be successful entrepreneurs. Through Spark, we are able to provide them an opportunity window not just to be jobseekers, but also as job makers or boss of their own little businesses," Sagun said.

Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/man/2005/10/20/feat/helping.the.hearing.impaired.earn.money.html