Ongoing March Update 2010
Posted by editor on 28 Jan 2010 | Tagged as: ABOUT IDEA
Tapestry Project
The art department up at Bohol Deaf Academy is headed by Ashley Drake. She has come up with a unique project using local, translucent sea shells and hand woven grass cloth to make tapestries. Our students come up with the designs and Ashley and teacher Leone help them refine them. These tapestries will decorate the walls of IDEA’s Dao Diamond Bed and Breakfast.
An Island Nation of Non-swimmers
The Philippines is made up of over 7000 islands but a huge percentage of its population don’t know how to swim. This is true with our students up at Bohol Deaf Academy as well so Lee Duncan conducts swimming training classes as part of their P.E. . Not only is this a very important skill for the kids to have ,. . . the students also love this class because the temperatures in March are usually running around 95 degrees Fahrenheit and about 80% humidity. A dip in the Dao Diamond pool feels pretty good.
Click on this link to watch a Video of Swimming Class
Lee Duncan Soon to Leave
Lee has been working with IDEA as the Special Projects Director. It is amazing how fast the time has gone. From the beginning when decided to come to Bohol with his wife and three children, he committed to stay for a period of four (4) years so now this chapter of his life comes to a close. In just a matter of days he will be moving his family back to the Duncan ancestral land in Virginia.
Lee has made so many valuable contributions to the progress of IDEA’s work with the Deaf in the Philippines. He has opened up avenues into local business where students are now accepted as intern (OJT) trainees. He has worked with the teachers in helping them improve their skills and improving their teaching resources. Lee has worked hand in hand with our social worker in solving some extremely difficult student behavior problems. He has set up sports programs for the students up at BDA. And there are hundreds of other examples of how Lee has made a dramatic difference in IDEA.
Everyone in IDEA will really miss Lee and Deborah as well as their children Harrison, Jordan, and William. Our prayers go with them as they open the next chapter in their lives.
Duncans, thank you for all the sacrifices you made to help the Deaf here in the Philippines.
Function Hall at Dao Diamond
Our IDEA Philippines construction crew is making good progress on the new function hall. We have a deadline to have the floors tiled, bathrooms complete, and ceilings in by April 3. With the guys working over-time everyday, we will meet the deadline. Initially it will be an open air facility but eventually it will be enclosed and air conditioned.
Click on this link to see a video scan of the Function Hall Progress
Soft Opening – BDA Canteen
On March 1st, the new student canteen known as the Hill Top Cafe and Bakery had it’s Soft Opening, giving all the campus residence a glimpse and a taste of things to come. Both of the vocational classes of restaurant operations and entrepreneurship joined forces to prepare and serve the food.
Every seat in the little cafe was full and everyone enjoyed some local snack foods like fruit soup (bagnig-nit), papaya salad, bread rolls, and chocolate shakes. Now the team will focus on developing a menu that will fit the pocketbooks of the deaf students and the workers at the Livelihood Center. Most snacks will cost between 10 to 20 cents (U.S.)
The deaf vocational kids get a chance to practice skills in cooking, serving, cashiering, bookkeeping, marketing, food presentation, customer service, restaurant equipment maintenance, personnel management, and more. Aaron Drake put this cafe together and is helping the teachers and students maximize the learning potential.
At the end of the day though, this is supposed to be a place where the students can go and get some great food, relax, and have fun. From the results of the Soft Opening, it looks like the cafe is right on target.
Aaron Drake working with some of the vocational students.
Second Half – February 2010 Update
King and Queen Contest
On February 12, Bohol Deaf Academy put on a event down at the community center. BDA sits at the top of a hill and is kind of “tucked away” from the rest of the community. The event, a coronation of the BDA King and Queen, was a way of inviting the surrounding community (barrio as it is called in the Philippines) to see and meet the deaf students. A sort of community relations opportunity.
Along with having a chance to witness some of the dance numbers by our students, the five candidate couples were able to show off their poise and confidence. This couple in a suite and white gown were the winners who were later crowned as King and Queen, BDA 2010. 
The BDA staff did a terrific job at putting this event together. This contest was also held to raise money for projects at the school and this also proved to be successful. Congratulations BDA staff and students.
Toni Ripplinger . . . Goodbye
Toni is from Minnesota and graduated college with a degree as an interpreter for the Deaf. Six months ago, Toni came to Bohol to volunteer with IDEA Philippines. During her stay she was able to put together a high school Christian outreach team that goes out to the IDEA supported deaf elementary schools. This team shares Bible stories with the children and helps them build a vocabulary that will someday allow them to be able to read and understand the Bible on their own. Toni worked hard to develop a four year outreach curriculum that the students and a teacher who now leads the team, will be able to follow. Toni now says goodbye to Bohol as she is returning to the State. Our prayers are with you and thank you Toni.
Click on this link to view a short video of Toni’s Farewell.
It may take a few minutes to upload so please read on while you wait.
SPRING IS IN THE AIR
Being near the equator, the Philippines is on a different seasonal time table than either North America or Europe. Although this tropical country never sees snow, it begins to think of March as their “Spring”. March is the beginning of the hottest months of the whole year. It is also the time for Easter and to remember the awesome and wonderful sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us.
Spring seems to have been the inspiration for the deaf students in Loon to have developed a new product from an ancient craft. Mat weaving has been a tradition in this community for thousands of years. The head teacher grew up weaving mats as a child so it was second nature for her to teach these skills to her deaf students. Together they developed these unique flowers that capture the spirit of Spring.
The students are being encouraged to make these flowers at home this summer. The Garden Cafe in Tagbilaran City will purchase them from the students and market them in the patio area. This will be a good way for the students to have summer jobs and earn some money. IDEA Philippines may even box some up and send some to the U.S. if any of you would be interested in ordering a few.
TEACHING CHILD SAFETY
TO DEAF CHILDREN
Almost all the parents of the deaf children that IDEA takes care of have extremely limited ability to communicate with their sons or daughters. This invisible handicap of deafness can really hinder the learning of the basics of human interaction and some of the dangers. This lack of knowledge really puts our deaf children at risk.
IDEA has taken on the role of helping educate the children on issues regarding personal safety. They need to know about inappropriate touch or how to recognize when someone has bad intentions toward them. They need to know how to say no and how to get away. They need to know how to report domestic abuse they might experience at home or in their communities.
Our team from the IDEA Philippines office just made their rounds to all of the IDEA supported schools this past week to help our students better understand how to protect themselves, their rights, and also how to respect other students rights. We want to always remind the students that we are their for them no matter what the problem is. IDEA also works very closely with the parents of the deaf children in developing this personal safety program and in issues of abuse.
Body Awareness Training
The girls and boys also had separate sessions to talk about sensitive gender issues.
Learning to recognize bad intentions and how to say “NO” and get away.
Role Playing on reporting abuse situations.
Learning From Daddy
Mary Gina and Ruel both work for IDEA Philippines and have for many years. They actually met on the job when Mary Gina was working as a waitress and Ruel was working as a driver. You know the old story . . . they fell in love, got married, and had children. What made this couple unusual was that Mary Gina is deaf and Ruel is hearing. They got married at a time when it was very rare on the island of Bohol that any deaf person even got married and they were one of the first deaf/hearing couples to marry.
Their oldest son Anthony, now 3 years old, is growing up bilingual knowing both sign language and spoken language. Anthony is hearing and will start kindergarten next year. For now, when he proudly sits next to his daddy operating the backhoe, you can see a dream in his eyes that someday he would like to get his hands on the controls.
NEW PICTURES FROM AFRICA
Noreen Corey with her preschool deaf students.
Noreen Corey is the founder of the Manos Felices School for the Deaf in Equatorial Guinea. Noreen is originally from New York but has been working with deaf children in Third World countries for many years. She truly is a servant. Noreen joined with IDEA one year ago as the first IDEA deaf program outside of the Philippines. IDEA is able to channel both her monthly support funds and project money through our Montana office.
Just some of the students studying at Manos Felices having a play day at the beach and in front of their school.
Francisco and Fabiola, two teachers for the deaf in training.
Learning the New Silent Language
Twice each year, IDEA Philippines conducts free community sign language training in various towns. On February 26th, we conducted a graduation ceremony for about 50 local community members in Tagbilaran City, Bohol. What was very nice about this group was that we had representatives from hospitals, the police department, department of justice, and other government offices enrolled. These various organizations and government agencies have realized the importance of being able to communicate with the growing deaf community that is in need of their services. This a great assistance for the Deaf in Tagbilaran.
Community Sign Language Graduates February 2010
