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Bengkala is a small village in North Bali. For more than a century, around 2 percent of the babies here have been born profoundly deaf. In 2008, out of a total population of 2,450, there were 46 profoundly deaf people, known in the village as kolok . People who can hear are known as inget . Almost everyone here, kolok and inget, can speak a sign language known as Kata Kolok (Deaf Talk).

Kata Kolok is a rich and developed language and uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning. These sign patterns usually involve a combination of hand signals; movements of the hands, arms, or body; and facial expressions. Kata Kolok is not dependent on or derived from Balinese, the spoken language of the village, or any other spoken language. Only slightly influenced by Indonesian Sign Language, it is a distinct, unique language that has a complex grammar of its own.

Kata Kolok is as expressive and complex as spoken Balinese. It can be used to discuss any topic that anyone in the village would discuss, from the simple and concrete to the highly abstract. Kolok and inget can engage in lucid, lengthy, complicated discussions on subjects such as agricultural production, market transactions and family life. In discussions involving mixed groups of kolok and inget, the deaf are at virtually no social or communicational disadvantage.

Ketut Kanta is a volunteer schoolteacher in Bengkala and an advocate for the kolok community.

He compares the way the kolok take part in community life here with the situation in nearby villages where indigenous sign languages are less widely used: “In Suwug, a village about 20 kilometers from Bengkala, the general community doesn’t sign. There are three or four deaf people there. They are shy and keep to themselves. They don’t take part in village affairs.”

At the primary school where Ketut Kanta teaches, Kata Kolok is now used as a medium for instruction. Since 1997, the government has classified it as an “inclusive school,” which means that it serves children of differing abilities, including both the deaf and hearing children. When the Indonesian education department suggested that the school accept deaf children from the village, Ketut Kanta lobbied for the use of Kata Kolok as a medium of instruction.

“First, the children of the village are already fluent in Kata Kolok. That makes it a more effective tool for communication,” Ketut Kanta said. “Second, using Kata Kolok at school will help to preserve the language in the village and keep it alive.” Elsewhere, Signed Indonesian is used to teach deaf children, and the Directorate General for Special Education has developed a range of teaching materials that use this language. While the Directorate General insisted that deaf children in Bengkala be taught Signed Indonesian as well, it was also supportive of the idea of using Kata Kolok.

Kolok Subentar, a deaf student at the local primary school

I have a sign-language name, a Kata Kolok name. I’ve spoken Kata Kolok since I was a child. I just started learning Indonesian Sign Language in primary school.

I’m 16 years old. I’m in the third grade in primary school. I’m quite old to still be in primary school. When I was younger, the local primary school wasn’t an inclusive school. It only became an inclusive school in 2007. Before that, if kolok children wanted to go to school, they had to go to Singaraja, to the Special School for the Deaf. I always wanted to go to school, but I couldn’t afford to go.

It’s a long way to Singaraja. It takes more that an hour by public transport. It costs Rp 18,000 ($2) to get there and back. A boarding house in Singaraja costs at least Rp 100,000 a month.

When I was younger, you still had to pay school fees for primary school and junior high schools. You don’t have to pay fees now. The regional government provides the books you need free of charge, too.

Before I went to school, I learned how to read and write with Pak Ketut Kanta. He used to invite kolok children to his house for reading classes twice or three times a week. My house is quite far from his house. He often used to come and pick me up on his motorbike.

I leave for school at 6 a.m. and I study until 1 p.m. After that, I often work cutting timber. The timber is used to make door frames and window frames for buildings. When I don’t go to school, I often work the whole day. If I work a whole day, I get paid Rp 25,000, and I get a plate of rice and tea. I give the money to my mother. She’s kolok, too. I speak in Kata Kolok with her. She can’t spell her name in Indonesian. She never went to school. Her first husband was a hearing person. He died when he fell out of a coconut tree. My older brother can hear. My father was my mother’s second husband. He was kolok, too.

At school, kolok and inget children are in the same classes.

At first, we had separate classes, but kolok and inget children wanted to have classes together. Inget children like learning Kata Kolok. They think it’s fun.

After I graduate from primary school, I want to go to junior high school. If I can, I want to go to senior high school. I’ll have to go to Singaraja for that. If I graduate from high school, I want to get a job as a driver. I want to drive tourists around the island. They can just write down where they want to go on a piece of paper and I’ll take them there. The only problem is that I can’t speak English. But I could learn.

This story first appeared in “Invisible People: Poverty and Empowerment in Indonesia,” published by the PNPM Support Facility, a Government of Indonesia, multi-donor partnership for reducing poverty through community action. For more information, visit www.wayang.net/Invisible_People.