A New Hotel Theme

We recently discovered that one of IDEA’s deaf carpentry employees has an amazing ability at sculpting.  Because our Dao Diamond Hotel has changed its motif to Polynesian it was thought that we needed a Tiki or two around to add to the atmosphere so Arnold the carpenter was given a small photo to go by and asked come up with a 10 foot statue that would be fun for the customer.  Because of the wet weather issues we decided to ask him to make it out of concrete and this is what he is coming up with.  It really is quite an amazing talent.

It is not yet quite finish.  When complete it will look as though it is carved out of wood.

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Micro House in Bohol

The economy has always been tough on the island of Bohol.  Although it is improving it is still nearly impossible for the average wage earner to put enough money together to put a down payment on a home or to even qualify for a loan.  Yes, this sounds like the same story all over the world but this is especially true for the Deaf living on this island and elsewhere in the Philippines.

IDEA Philippines employs around 120 deaf adults in its various (EIGPs) Employment / Income Generating Projects and most of them are required to join a government housing loan program.  The challenge has been to come up with a house and property that would fit their budget and ability to make monthly mortgage payments.  We have finally come up with a micro home that fits their incomes.  It is a micro house or can be thought of as a starter home.  The house design has been approved by the government for loans and it seems that the road is now clear to begin mass producing these structures.

The homes are built in our IDEA shop by our deaf carpenters.  We are not able to go down to a Home Depot and buy the lumber.  Instead we have to order the lumber rough cut by chainsaw and then bring it into our shop to mill it down to ship-lap siding and studs.  It is a very labor and equipment intensive effort.  The homes are then either built in knockdown form or totally assembled and delivered to the building site on a trailer or truck.

Thanks to our friend Andy Cohen who has funded this project to honor is father, we are now in the process of setting up the Cohen Village I.  We hope to be able to set up 10 to 15 home on a piece of property already owned by IDEA Philippines.

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Gifts for Bohol and Leyte

The deaf kids are were so excited when December 13 rolled around. They knew that was the day that “Mrs. Clause”, Marilou Drake, and her elves, the IDEA Philippines office staff, would be coming to their dormitories with loads of Christmas gifts.

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Marilou

Marilou and her Elves

 Most of the gifts that the team delivered were purchased with money given by the individual sponsors of the students and were specifically shopped for from wish lists sent in by the kids.  Even if the kids didn’t have a sponsor, IDEA made sure that everyone of the children got some nice presents.  There were smiles all around.

Marilou and the Elves also wished the students a Merry Christmas through caroling.  You may wonder how the students could appreciate the singing?  The carols were also interpreted in sign language and many of the students have some residual hearing so could pick up a little of the music.  In addition, all the students got new hearing aids from the Starkey Hearing Foundation just the week before so this was a chance to test them out.  A few of the kids had dramatic improvement and could hear quite a lot of the music.   Even if it wasn’t crystal clear for everyone,  it was the thought that counted.  Everyone had a great time.

The kids will be busy this week making thank you cards.  IDEA as an organization would also like to thank the sponsors for making this a Merry Christmas.

Here are a few photos of the event and also a video.

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