Josh Swiller, a 2006 alumnus of the New York University Silver School of Social Work, will discuss his recent book, The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa, on Tuesday, April 8, at 6:30 p.m. The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at the NYU Silver School, 1 Washington Square North (at University Place), first floor. For further information, call 212.998.9186.
Swiller, who is hearing impaired, was one of the first group of Peace Corps volunteers in the mid-1990s to travel to Zambia. He was assigned to the remote, impoverished village of Mununga, where he stayed for two years. He was not only the first white man to live there, but also the first person there with a hearing aid.
In Zambia he found an education he hadn’t anticipated, as he witnessed hunger, disease, and cultural misunderstanding that evolved into grave danger for his mission and for himself. This memoir is the result of his experiences.
Today Swiller is a hospice social worker at Metropolitan Jewish Hospice. He recently underwent successful cochlear implant surgery and has partially recovered his hearing.