An entire community learned sign language to surprise a deaf man in Istanbul, Turkey.
The video telling the story, entitled Hearing Hands, has gone viral now has over 6.8 million views on YouTube.
In the video, a hearing impaired man named Muharrem gets ready to start his day with his sister Ozlem, who, unknown to him, has collaborated with the Leo Burnett Ad Agency, Samsung and local residents to give him a day he will never forget.
As soon as the siblings step out of their apartment, a man greets Muhareem with 'hello' in sign language. At first, he does a double take but does not think too much of it.
When they enter a bakery, however, the shopkeeper explains that they have fresh bagels, again in sign language. Muharrem seemed puzzled because this does not usually happen.
When a man drops oranges on the streets, Muharrem and his sister Ozlem help him and he replies by using sign language to thank them. He also gives them apples.
Muharrem wonders if his sister knows the man and if he is hearing impaired just like him. His sister replies in the negative while strangers continue to greet him in sign language.
Finally, an LCD monitor explains to Muhareem that the people he met throughout the day had learned sign language to communicate with him to fulfil the dream of a world without barriers.
"All for Muharrem to have one day with no barriers," the video says.
One by one, people wave hello to the young man, and the people he met in the morning emerge to give him hugs. Muharrem is moved to tears by the gesture.
The video has touched many YouTube users and while there were some negative comments about the video being part of Samsung's promo for its video call center for the hearing impaired, most welcomed the video for its heartwarming theme.
"Few days ago I saw two who people who were communicating like that snd I asked myself how come we don't learn that "language" at school. It's time to change that," one YouTube user said.
"I love this, all of it. For those of you who are complaining it is an ad, who cares. It brought awareness and it is heartwarming in a world filled with hate. This brought brightness to my day," said another.
