Hope School For The Deaf, Monze
This is one of our projects. On a visit to Monze, Zambia, our Director, Ron Prosser discovered that in the town there were at least 16 deaf children and in the surrounding area 237 children, all of whom had no access to medical help or tuition and many were 'the forgotten ones'So a plan was devised to immediately start a small school for those children who lived in the locality. An excellent young Zambian teacher of the deaf has been found and the school is now open teaching 9 of these young children in a hired room while a 2-classroom building is constructed with money from HHI supporters.
But this is only the start. An ambitious programme has been prepared and costed to train an additional teacher, to construct hostels to accommodate children from outlying areas, to construct an audiology laboratory equipped with the necessary instruments and to fund a vehicle and staff to commence a mobile clinic and school to visit the surrounding villages. When this is achieved, what a difference it will make to the lives of these disadvantaged youngsters who at present have little prospects other than a life of begging.
There are, says director Ron Prosser, several subtleties to this project which may not be immediately realised. Typically, it is not just the children who need to be taught sign language – it would be pointless to teach them without the parents. And, bizarrely, there are ways to help which are not obvious – apart from mirrors and sign-language dictionaries, it turns out that second-hand hearing aids have a use. The majority of hearing aids are not specifically built or tailored to any user, and when not needed any more can be usefully given a new lease of life in places like our new Deaf school. A lead from the Caerleon Rotary Club in the UK has led us to a specialist hearing-aid reconditioner in Derby, UK.
So – don’t throw out your old hearing aid!
