Room for More Deaf Workers

Dao Diamond Hotel was established 8 years ago as an employment place for the Deaf and to earn an income to help support the education of deaf children throughout Bohol.  It was made possible through the generous funding from the Consuelo Foundation.  Dao Diamond just got a boost with a new function hall funded by the Freed Family.  Although not yet complete,  this new facility called the Santa Fe Room, can accommodate up to 350 persons in a banquet type setting.  It had its first booking on April 3rd.  Even though it isn’t quite finished it stays booked up so the construction crew is having to work nights in the off hours to complete it.  The hotel has been able to accept more deaf workers to serve a larger number of guests.

Teachers are the Key

Pictured above are all the elementary school teachers that IDEA works with from Bohol and Southern Leyte in the Philippines.  The dedicated people in this group are the KEYS to hundreds of impoverished deaf children having brighter futures.  They just finished up a three day workshop and jointly prepared a scope and sequence for their classes. This may seem pretty dry for most of us but it is so important that all the students from all the areas get the same instruction in elementary school so they arrive in high school with the same background knowledge.  This workshop put all the teachers on the “same page.

This was also the first time the Southern Leyte people joined IDEA in one of its events.  The Bohol group was so impressed with their abilities and enthusiasm.  IDEA is already working with these teachers to bring many more neglected deaf children in the Southern Leyte area to school this June.  The students who can’t afford to go to school will initially be given transportation funds and school materials by IDEA.

Honolulu Rotary Club in Bohol

The most amazing group of volunteers arrived in Bohol on April 7th.  The Honolulu Rotary group of 21 willing individual came to help IDEA put together it’s new medical / dental / and hearing clinic building.  This new clinic building will offer office space to full time doctors that will hold regular private clinic business there but these doctors will be trained in sign language and will give priority services to IDEA’s students and staff.

With day time temperatures hanging around 95 degrees, these amazing people were ready to jump in and give a hand in what ever way was needed.

The clinic site consists of an open concrete court yard with a small building at one end.  Dennis gathered all the volunteers to explain the objective.  Not only did the building need to be completed, the very open, hot concrete courtyard needed to be landscaped to make it more patient friendly.  The biggest challenge seemed to be how to add shade.

The crew bagged top-soil in another part of the property and put it on top of the concrete slab to add landscaping.  They then brought in paving blocks to put in a walkway.

One of the least favorite jobs was renovating a 50 year old hearing testing booth that needed to have literally thousands of tiny holes in the wall surface cleaned of old paint.  Reaching new levels of patience, the booth crew stuck to it.  Each antique panel weighs over 400 pounds and the whole booth needed to be assembled, without instructions.  It was a little like putting together a jigsaw puzzle without the picture to work from.

The painting crew spent much of its time toning down the courtyard concrete walls with a cooling green color but of course, all the walls needed to be primed first with paint that has an odor that defies description.  The Rotary Club painting crew also gave us a hand with finishing up some painting in our Function Hall.

The Rotary Club team really understood what IDEA is all about when they had a chance to meet some of the elementary school deaf students.  The children are on Summer vacation but came back to their school dorm one evening  just to meet the Hawaii group, have a nice dinner, and play games.  Everyone had a terrific time.

Our heroes . . . the Honolulu Rotary Club Team of 2010

Job Opening Announcement

We are looking for an Administrator / Innovator to give creative direction to the Bohol Deaf Academy.  We need someone who sees beyond standard academic education for the Deaf but can imagine fresh new ways to develop the whole person.  Please check out the Job Opening Announcement page.

A BIG DAY

The Bohol Deaf Academy class of 2010 celebrated its graduation on March 30th.  This day was the culmination of 11 or 12 years of study and sacrifice for the students.  The teachers were able to reap the reward of seeing the students they have poured their lives into finally receive their high school diplomas.

The parents remembered how devastated they were when they learned that their child was deaf and they feared for the future.  On March 30th, the profound realization struck them that their special children had achieved a goal that they at one time believed was out of reach.  It was a huge milestone.

Dale and Marianne Rongholt have been the sponsors of Darius every since he was in elementary school.  They were able to be on hand to celebrate the graduation with Darius’ parents.  It took a team to get Darius to this point in his life.  He has turned out to be a really neat young man that both parents and sponsors are proud of.

Goodbye Duncans

With backpacks on, the Duncan family get ready to board an airplane leaving Bohol for the last time.  Their 4 year experience of living and working there with IDEA has come to an end.  The family heads to Australia for a two week tour and then back to the States.  We in Bohol will sure miss you guys.

Help for the Deaf in Southern Leyte

It has becomes IDEA’s calling to find a way to educate hundreds of deaf children in the province of Southern Leyte, Philippines.  Historically, deaf children have never been schooled and it is only now that the government is starting to pay any attention to them.  They have been easy to overlook because they are scattered and have no voices or language to use to let anyone know they even exist.   IDEA finds its role in becoming a partner with the Department of Education in helping them understand how to reach out to many neglected children and in the training of teachers.

On March 28th, IDEA held a seminar and invited all Southern Leyte school administrators, supervisors, principals, and teachers that deal with the Deaf to attend the special conference aimed at developing a strategy to reach out to the large number of deaf children.  Going into this conference, the government was providing just 7.5 hours per WEEK of classroom teaching for 30 deaf children.  At the end of the conference, it had been decided to allocate full-time teachers to the program and to try and provide 30 to 40 hours a week of classroom teaching for 80 full-time deaf students.

Lee Duncan and Maricris Magallones acted as facilitators for the seminar and they did a terrific job.  It is only with the invitation of the Department of Education that IDEA is able to work in Southern Leyte.  We only hope that with our many years of experience of helping establish new deaf cultures, IDEA will be a valuable partner to the Philippine government agency.

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