Hellen Keller said that although vision brings in the beauty of the outside world
Hearing is what connects us to each other
It's not just about giving somebody the gift of hearing
It's also about demonstrating caring to them, you know?
and really connecting with them, making sure they feel comfortable because
You know until you've lived you don't know how they perceive life.
Are we good? Yeah?
Both? Good?
Yes! Good job
Hello Hello?
Hello Hello
When they start to hear for that first time and their eyes pop
that's when you make the connection. I keep trying to make it fun and exciting.
I bring out an ipod
with a little music speaker and just - you know - try and get a little dancing around
to hearing lovely music first time
*Music*
We've been coming here to Malawi since 2006
Everywhere we go. When the foundation makes a decision to go
into any region around the world it's really with that sustainability path in mind
that we're going to go there and keep coming back
We have a three-phase model and its a continuous model because
once you're on phase 3 (after-care) you're gonna have people that hear about it from
their friends and are excited and they come in too.
Our aftercare has really progressed
if they come to us with a hearing aid that's broken then we will exchange it for a new one
The student ambassadors were
just rock stars yesterday.
To my great delight
we had a student ambassador named "Blessing" of all things
he participated first as a patient with me.
And so he asked to participate the rest of the day
to assist in the fitting out with me by his side
He could bond with his fellow students in a way that I couldn't.
He spoke the language - he was there same age.
The success of the fittings on that day will absolutely be driven
by Blessing's collaboration with us.
Because you're on the angel team, helping us reflect caring to others:
carry the angel wings with you always.
So you're officially an angel team member
I think that everything that we do is teamwork especially our partners on the
ground
because we come in we deliver the hearing aids and the resources
and the gift of hearing
but they stay to implement it into their daily lives.
We drove up to the school and the kids all had their hearing aids in
there was 170 students. We went through every child.
And then after we saw every kid they went right back to
counseling so we have to reinforce: how to change the battery
adjust the volume
put the ear mold in
and remove
Very good!
We'll come back and work with the on-the-ground team
and ensure that we're building a sustainable path to this goal.
So this is gonna significantly help the country of Malawi
in implementing the gift of hearing into their daily lives