Keven Govender ... a beacon of hope

WHAT started as a passion to help people who were deaf, turned into a calling for retired Phoenix resident, Keven Govender, a former sign language interpreter for the SAPS and founder of the Phoenix Deaf Club.

- YOSHINI PERUMAL

Govender has become a beacon of hope since he started the club five months ago and he has had calls from the deaf community in Chatsworth to expand the club to other areas.

Since his retirement, he has made it his mission to assist deaf people with finding employment, and offers his services to them at a church in Brookdale, where he interprets the sermons and holds praise and worship sessions.

The father of one from Stanmore was a sign language interpreter for the SAPS for 25 years.

He said he formed the club after he found that deaf people in his community were being ignored and socially excluded.

In 1988, he enrolled privately for a course in sign language interpretation at the VN Naik School for the Deaf so that he was better able to communicate with deaf people.