Starkey Hearing Foundation

and IDEA Philippines Team Up 

To Provide Hearing Aids to Bohol

December six and seven were a whirlwind couple of days at IDEA’s Dao Diamond Hotel in Tagbilaran City, Bohol.   The six member Starkey Hearing Foundation audiology team from the States plus nine audiology student volunteers from the University of Santo Tomas flew into Tagbilaran, Bohol to distribute hearing aids.  The trip to Bohol for them had some drama to it as the airplane they chartered missed the taxiway and buried one airplane wheels three feet into the mud.  Luckily the landing gear did not collapse.  Finding another flight delayed the start of the mission by more than half a day but like real troopers, they hit the ground running and  worked late into the night to fit the crowds of people who were waiting eagerly to receive the gift of  hearing aids.

Along with IDEA Philippines staff, the team was able to fit around 900 people with aids in the short two days.  Bill Austin, the founder of the Starkey Hearing Foundation and owner of Starkey Labs, lead the mission and inspired the team with his super human dedication to serve the patients and his incredible stamina.  The teams worked straight though lunch and dinner without stopping to eat in order to be able to meet the needs of the crowds.  The sacrificial attitude of the IDEA staff and Starkey Mission team was truly awesome!

Bill Austin, Founder of Starkey Hearing Foundation

The two day event was punctuated with literally hundreds and hundreds of  “AHA” moments when either someone began to hear sounds they never had heard before or someone with slowly diminished hearing was restored.  Huge smiles where on peoples faces as they exited the distribution center with their new electronic hearing devices.  Small conclaves of individuals could be seen standing around talking to each other to marvel at the improvement in understanding of speech.  In the case of the sever and profoundly deaf students, they were realizing they could hear car horns or laughter of people around them.  Just being aware of the sounds around they makes there world safer and more enjoyable even if they couldn’t understand speech.   What a special time!

THANK YOU Starkey Hearing Foundation for this amazing gift of hearing for Bohol.  THANK YOU Bill Austin.

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Faith Chapel Volunteers

from Billings, Montana

transform abandoned building

into a home for deaf children.

Maasin City, Southern Leyte, Philippines, August 21, 2011

Hundreds of deaf children live in isolation in the mountains of Southern Leyte with no chance for an education because of distance and economics.  There is only one practical solution to providing them schooling and that is to bring them down to a Special Education Center and give them a place to live while schooling.  This has been the strategic starting point for an amazing collaborative effort of establishing a dormitory for deaf children in Maasin, Southern Leyte.

The partners in this project are IDEA, Maasin Department of Education, and Faith Chapel of Billings, Montana.  IDEA has provided the road map, coordination and man power, the Department of Education has provided an abandoned building, and Faith Chapel donated $10,000 and sent a team of volunteers to rehab the building.

For the past two years this abandoned building has been used to grow earth worms and produce organic fertilizer.  Although it is a worthwhile project, it was a waste of a very good building.  It was filled to knee high with soil.  On August 9th, a group of 12 Faith Chapel volunteers arrived to take on the challenge of rehabilitating the building.  The first thing they did was to wade into the piles of soil, bag it up and transport it out.  Some of these bags weighed over 100 pounds and this work took place during a rainstorm.  With the roof leaking badly, the soil quickly turned into mud.

IDEA Philippines also sent a team of ten (10) men from its construction group to work side by side with the American volunteers.  Most of the men on the IDEA team are deaf and former students under IDEA’s education program.

The entire roof and ceiling of the building needed to be replaced so a group of women on the Montana team were tasked with painting 150 sheets of plywood.  With all the mud and paint flying around the work site, by the end of the second day the Montana Team had earned the title of  “THE DIRTY DOZEN”.

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                     THE DIRTY DOZEN                                  Chip Crees and Ron Todd

This post is being put up on August 21st and the teams are still working on the building rehab project.  The work is being documented by professional videographer, Mark Hanson from Faith Chapel so additional post will be up soon on the continuing progress of the team.

                       Painting Crew                        Mark Hanson ready for rain

You can follow the blogs from one team member at

http://missions.faithchapel.cc/

Mark Hanson has put up some short videos about the team’s work and experiences in Maasin.  Check it out by clicking on the words “MOVIE”

MOVIE 1

MOVIE 2

MOVIE 3

August 21, 2011

The Faith Chapel team headed back to the U.S. last night leaving Manila about 10:00PM.  Although they had to be exhausted after the incredible week of work they put in on the new dormitory, they were in remarkably good spirits.  As Ron put it, this rather eclectic group had really become a team and he gave all the credit to Jesus.

It was unclear from the beginning of the work on the dorm as to how extensive the renovation was to be.  It was only after the ceilings came down, the old roof taken off, and wall panels removed that they could see the termite damage.  It turned out to be significant.  Additional trusses had to be made and walls replaced.  Despite these additional tasks, the team saw 2/3rds of the work on the dorm completed before they had to leave.  The two bedrooms, boy’s and girl’s sides, were clearly defined as well as the kitchen / dining area and the living room area.  All the ceilings and walls were in place as well as all the electrical lines were installed.  Oh, and we should NOT forget the removal of nearly 8 tons of garbage and soil from the inside and out side of the building.

IDEA’s work crew will now finish up the work on the dorm in hopefully about 10 more days.

                         Boy’s Bedroom                                   Girl’s Bedroom

Final Group Shot On Last Day In Maasin“>

Final Group Shot On Last Day In Maasin

   Mark catches the action on video                  The group starts the trip home.

A well earned rest on the outrigger boat to Bohol Island.

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Deaf Church at Tiptip, Tagbilaran City

Missionaries Johnny and Veronica Dunnington arrived in Bohol in 1990 and after 10 years of work, opened the doors to the Tiptip Deaf Church in 2000.  Just one year later they were called back to the States and IDEA inherited the property and responsibility for its operation.  IDEA was happy to be able to bring Veronica, the founder, back as the guest speaker for the church’s anniversary this past October 3.  Veronica is also Deaf so she gave her message in sign language to the 130 person deaf congregation.

Veronica’s daughter Tiffany joined her in returning to Bohol to assist in establishing a ministry for hearing children of deaf parents.  Johnny Dunnington was gracious enough to allow Veronica to stay in Bohol for three months to reinvigorate the church and help them build a more family oriented minisitry.

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Dennis Drake and two young instructors with hearing children of deaf parents.
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Dennis Drake and two young instructors with hearing children of deaf parents.

It is said that the family is the basic unit of society. It is where we first feel the sense of belongingness and love. It’s the first place where we learn the importance of acceptance and communication.

But what happens when you belong to a home where one of your parents or even both of them is deaf? Will that mean that you can never experience that moment where you can confide to your father how to court a girl? Or that mother-daughter talks on how to handle the pressures of growing up?

That may not always be the case. Because it is one of IDEA Philippines’ goals to improve family functioning and successful reintegration of the deaf into their families and communities.

Thus last October 28-30, 2010, a group of ten enthusiastic teens, from ages 11 to 19 years old, all with deaf parents, gathered at Dao Diamond Hotel for a 3-day training to enhance their sign language and interpreting skills.

The said activity was organized by IDEA through its social worker Argen Ajos and facilitated by Nueva Niña Nahial and Vera Marie Nahial, IDEA-sponsored students taking up the SPED course, to help these kids communicate more openly with their parents and to serve as interpreters when requested by the other deaf.

It is one of the organization’s plans to establish a group of interpreters who can readily assist the deaf when interacting with the hearing community especially when in the market, hospital, police or when dealing with private or government offices. This will also serve as a source of income for the children since they will be paid if they will serve as an interpreter.

Activities undertaken during the 3-day affair were lessons on sign language and re-enactment of certain scenarios where they applied their knowledge of the sign language and interpreting skills. They also had an exposure tour to hospitals and important government agencies such as the Social Security System (SSS) office, Health Insurance office (Philhealth), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), among others. Before the culmination, an evaluation was conducted among the participants to assess whether they learned from the activity and to identify what areas they need to improve. They also had an open forum where the children shared their experiences of growing up with deaf parents and their realizations. As a conclusion to the memorable experience, the children were treated to a movie at Island City Mall, where they continued their bonding with their new-found friends and shared a few laughs.

With the success of the activity, the organizers are now planning for a possibility of holding similar trainings in the days to come. After all, IDEA believes that: “A family that signs together stays together.”

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