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DeWitt Era-Enterprise: News Column
At first glance, Aimee Ada Coryell is not a prepossessing figure. She’s small and slight, and her voice is so soft that the listener has to lean close to hear her.
But those soft words give a truer picture of what this 84-year-old woman is all about. They tell of her love of and devotion to an ideal and a 45-year career of bringing education to children who would otherwise be cast aside by their society.
Rev. Aimee Ada Coryell is the founder and chief visionary of the Deaf Evangelistic Alliance Foundation Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to educating deaf children in the Philippines. She started her program from scratch in 1961 and now presides over nine schools in the Philippines and more in other countries in southeast Asia. Most of them are led by teachers who got their own education at one of Coryell’s schools.
Coryell gets funding from a variety of sources, including appeals to individual churches. One of those churches is New Life Fellowship of DeWitt. Coryell will speak about her work and her schools at New Life, Sunday at 10 a.m.
“She’s just a wonderful person and her work is truly remarkable,” said Rita Manchester, who, along with her husband, Doug, is one of Coryell’s sponsors.
The daughter of a missionary mother, Coryell followed in her mother’s footsteps and got a degree in theology from Patten College and Seminary in 1950. She knew before she graduated where she wanted to work.
“God spoke to me in the Philippine language and told me to go to the Philippines and teach deaf children,” she says of making her career choice.
It took God a few years to convince the Philippine government to give Coryell a permit to go to the country and teach. In the intervening decade, she taught herself American Sign Language (ASL) and helped teach deaf children in Japan, which was then just starting to recover from World War II.
In 1961, the Philippine government gave her a chance — sort of.
“They didn’t really want an American woman there, so they didn’t let me teach in Manila,” Coryel says. Instead, they gave me some land up in the mountains about 130 kilometers from Manila, and that’s where I went. There was nothing there.”
Nothing that is except children who needed her services and some willing volunteers. While laborers cleared trees to build Coryell’s new school, she went village-to-village in two provinces, looking for children to teach. As much as the deaf children needed instruction — at that time the Philippine government provided almost no services for deaf children — recruiting pupils wasn’t easy.
“Some parents didn’t want to let their children come to my school,” Coryell recalls. “They said they were afraid I would ‘eat’ them.”
But Coryell was persistent, and soon she had her first class. And it didn’t take her long to win over other parents with her success.
“I have the fastest method there is” for teaching deaf children,” Coryell says confidently. “Within a year, students pick up an 800-word vocabulary” of signs. An artist from Okinawa spent five years drawing cartoons for the 800 signs. The drawings are now used in the course.
Almost a half-century after she was denied access to the country, Coryell is now a favorite of the Philippine government. They give her some support and send her deaf children from the slums of Manila. “They’ve decided I’m all right,” Coryell says.
A 45-year career naturally involves a lot of highlights, but the accomplishment of which Coryell is most proud is the way many of her graduates have expanded on her ministry. They teach in all her schools and have expanded the ministry to other countries in southeast Asia.
“So many of my graduates have gone back to their home communities and started schools,” she says with a big smile. “That makes me proud.”
At first glance, Aimee Ada Coryell is not a prepossessing figure. She’s small and slight, and her voice is so soft that the listener has to lean close to hear her.
But those soft words give a truer picture of what this 84-year-old woman is all about. They tell of her love of and devotion to an ideal and a 45-year career of bringing education to children who would otherwise be cast aside by their society.
Rev. Aimee Ada Coryell is the founder and chief visionary of the Deaf Evangelistic Alliance Foundation Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to educating deaf children in the Philippines. She started her program from scratch in 1961 and now presides over nine schools in the Philippines and more in other countries in southeast Asia. Most of them are led by teachers who got their own education at one of Coryell’s schools.
Coryell gets funding from a variety of sources, including appeals to individual churches. One of those churches is New Life Fellowship of DeWitt. Coryell will speak about her work and her schools at New Life, Sunday at 10 a.m.
“She’s just a wonderful person and her work is truly remarkable,” said Rita Manchester, who, along with her husband, Doug, is one of Coryell’s sponsors.
The daughter of a missionary mother, Coryell followed in her mother’s footsteps and got a degree in theology from Patten College and Seminary in 1950. She knew before she graduated where she wanted to work.
“God spoke to me in the Philippine language and told me to go to the Philippines and teach deaf children,” she says of making her career choice.
It took God a few years to convince the Philippine government to give Coryell a permit to go to the country and teach. In the intervening decade, she taught herself American Sign Language (ASL) and helped teach deaf children in Japan, which was then just starting to recover from World War II.
In 1961, the Philippine government gave her a chance — sort of.
“They didn’t really want an American woman there, so they didn’t let me teach in Manila,” Coryel says. Instead, they gave me some land up in the mountains about 130 kilometers from Manila, and that’s where I went. There was nothing there.”
Nothing that is except children who needed her services and some willing volunteers. While laborers cleared trees to build Coryell’s new school, she went village-to-village in two provinces, looking for children to teach. As much as the deaf children needed instruction — at that time the Philippine government provided almost no services for deaf children — recruiting pupils wasn’t easy.
“Some parents didn’t want to let their children come to my school,” Coryell recalls. “They said they were afraid I would ‘eat’ them.”
But Coryell was persistent, and soon she had her first class. And it didn’t take her long to win over other parents with her success.
“I have the fastest method there is” for teaching deaf children,” Coryell says confidently. “Within a year, students pick up an 800-word vocabulary” of signs. An artist from Okinawa spent five years drawing cartoons for the 800 signs. The drawings are now used in the course.
Almost a half-century after she was denied access to the country, Coryell is now a favorite of the Philippine government. They give her some support and send her deaf children from the slums of Manila. “They’ve decided I’m all right,” Coryell says.
A 45-year career naturally involves a lot of highlights, but the accomplishment of which Coryell is most proud is the way many of her graduates have expanded on her ministry. They teach in all her schools and have expanded the ministry to other countries in southeast Asia.
“So many of my graduates have gone back to their home communities and started schools,” she says with a big smile. “That makes me proud.”