© 2007
Editors note:
My son recently went skydiving and was interested in learning more about the sport so he went online looking for information. He immediately came across a large deaf skydiving organization and brought it to my attention. After looking at the site http://www.deafskydivers.org/contents.htm I realized we are everywhere! Deaf, hearing impaired, cochlear implanted, you name it, they are out there doing it....lol braving the skies whether it's skydiving, parachuting, hangliding, or piloting a plane. Deaf and hearing impaired are out there enjoying their lives. I immediately wrote the organization and received a response recommending a man by the name of Charl de Villiers. Charl is an expert skydiver as well as one of the first deaf individuals to circumnavigate the globe solo. That's right, solo. I decided I wanted to hear this guy's story and after reading it, I want to share it with our readers. Unfortunately, Charl was not available all summer to be interviewed but his
wife, Bev provided us with her husband's brave story....The Silent Voyager
The Silent Voyager
Charl de Villiers was born and raised in South Africa. At age 8 he was tragically burned in an accident and suffered third degree burns over 85% of his body. He was hospitalized for 6 months, fighting for his life. The antibiotics administered to stave off infection attacked his auditory nerve, and within a year he was profoundly deaf with a body scarred beyond recognition.
He attended a school for the deaf and partially hearing until age 12. There he received intensive lessons in lip-reading and speech therapy. He then went to a regular High School and graduated in 1978 without any special accommodations, an incredible accomplishment.
He settled in the far north of South Africa, along the Limpopo river where he bought a 200 acre farm. He cleared the bush, laid out irrigable lands, designed, manufactured and installed his own water extraction system. He was soon irrigating his own cotton, sweet corn and vegetable crops. In 1984 he married his wife Beverly, an elementary school teacher and speech-correctionist. He became an experienced skydiver, played an excellent game of golf and played rugby.
In 1985 the first ANC terrorist attacks began and their perfect world was turned upside down. They lived in dangerous conditions for the next 5 years. They were trained by the army to protect their farm and homestead and drove an anti-landmine vehicle. Deciding that there was no future there for their two young children, they sold the farm and immigrated to America in 1991. In a strange country and speaking no English, Charl faced this new challenge without hesitation. Within months he was speaking and lip-reading English, a language he had never heard. He worked as a welder/fabricator at a Chemical plant and his family settled in Texas.
Frustrated by the inability of fellow workers and supervisors to look beyond his deafness and recognize his intelligence, he decided to quit his job, purchase a sailboat and sail around the world. He would fulfill a childhood dream. More than anything he wanted to show the world that just because the deaf have difficulty with communication, they are by no means ignorant.
After months of preparation and repairs to his boat, Charl de Villiers set sail from Palacios Texas on March 6, 2004. He sailed his 37’ Tartan sailboat into the Gulf of Mexico, with absolutely no offshore sailing experience. This would become a 10-month voyage of determination, courage and great tenacity. He survived severe storms, damage to the boat, and a burglary that left him without vital communications equipment. Driven crazy by the boredom of the doldrums and the challenges of battering seas with days without sleep, he sailed triumphantly into Palacios on December 19th, 2004. As far as is known he has become the first deaf person to solo circumnavigate the globe.
His incredible journey can be found on www.silentvoyager.com