We recently discovered that one of IDEA’s deaf carpentry employees has an amazing ability at sculpting.  Because our Dao Diamond Hotel has changed its motif to Polynesian it was thought that we needed a Tiki or two around to add to the atmosphere so Arnold the carpenter was given a small photo to go by and asked come up with a 10 foot statue that would be fun for the customer.  Because of the wet weather issues we decided to ask him to make it out of concrete and this is what he is coming up with.  It really is quite an amazing talent.

It is not yet quite finish.  When complete it will look as though it is carved out of wood.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7aCQoMWShg

The economy has always been tough on the island of Bohol.  Although it is improving it is still nearly impossible for the average wage earner to put enough money together to put a down payment on a home or to even qualify for a loan.  Yes, this sounds like the same story all over the world but this is especially true for the Deaf living on this island and elsewhere in the Philippines.

IDEA Philippines employs around 120 deaf adults in its various (EIGPs) Employment / Income Generating Projects and most of them are required to join a government housing loan program.  The challenge has been to come up with a house and property that would fit their budget and ability to make monthly mortgage payments.  We have finally come up with a micro home that fits their incomes.  It is a micro house or can be thought of as a starter home.  The house design has been approved by the government for loans and it seems that the road is now clear to begin mass producing these structures.

The homes are built in our IDEA shop by our deaf carpenters.  We are not able to go down to a Home Depot and buy the lumber.  Instead we have to order the lumber rough cut by chainsaw and then bring it into our shop to mill it down to ship-lap siding and studs.  It is a very labor and equipment intensive effort.  The homes are then either built in knockdown form or totally assembled and delivered to the building site on a trailer or truck.

Thanks to our friend Andy Cohen who has funded this project to honor is father, we are now in the process of setting up the Cohen Village I.  We hope to be able to set up 10 to 15 home on a piece of property already owned by IDEA Philippines.

The deaf kids are were so excited when December 13 rolled around. They knew that was the day that “Mrs. Clause”, Marilou Drake, and her elves, the IDEA Philippines office staff, would be coming to their dormitories with loads of Christmas gifts.

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Marilou

Marilou and her Elves

 Most of the gifts that the team delivered were purchased with money given by the individual sponsors of the students and were specifically shopped for from wish lists sent in by the kids.  Even if the kids didn’t have a sponsor, IDEA made sure that everyone of the children got some nice presents.  There were smiles all around.

Marilou and the Elves also wished the students a Merry Christmas through caroling.  You may wonder how the students could appreciate the singing?  The carols were also interpreted in sign language and many of the students have some residual hearing so could pick up a little of the music.  In addition, all the students got new hearing aids from the Starkey Hearing Foundation just the week before so this was a chance to test them out.  A few of the kids had dramatic improvement and could hear quite a lot of the music.   Even if it wasn’t crystal clear for everyone,  it was the thought that counted.  Everyone had a great time.

The kids will be busy this week making thank you cards.  IDEA as an organization would also like to thank the sponsors for making this a Merry Christmas.

Here are a few photos of the event and also a video.

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XzGF5SEXxQ

BOHOL, PHILIPPINES

It has been three years since the last Bohol Deaf Festival.  On December 6 & 7 deaf children and adults from all over the island made their way to the Bohol Deaf Academy for the two days of fun, games, presentations and fellowship.  For many of the youngsters this was the first time for them to actually meet the entire IDEA deaf family.  More that 400 people took part in the festival and despite the occasional rain, everyone had a good time.  A big thank you to Marianne Fisher for once again underwriting this event.  It is this festival that bonds the deaf from all over Bohol into a family and creates a deaf community like none other in the world.  Take a look at this 12 minute video to get an idea of what went on.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgE-_SmVjL4

Here Are Some Pictures Of The Event

A big thanks to Steve Ocon for being the photographer and for putting together IDEA’s web sites.

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 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.

There are no evergreen trees on the island of Bohol in the Philippines so having a traditional Christmas tree is out of the question.  This means that every year the kids up at IDEA’s Bohol Deaf Academy “build”a Christmas.  This year they decided to use a native grass and bamboo as the base materials.  The students first built the supporting structure for the tree out of bamboo and then cover it with grass.  This turned out to be a lesson in engineering because their first attempt collapsed in a heap.  As you see, the second attempt is much better.  Even the animals in the manger scene are made from grass.  Good job kids.

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.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZkU8QeKZ5Y

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

July 5, 2011

Perla Manapol (pictured at the left) is the president of an organization known as Sustainable Rural Enterprises based in Aklan, Philippines.  Her fervour to help the poor and at the same time helping the environment is contagious.  She initially infected Ambassador Benny Tan (pictured on the right) with the concept of stoves that burn waste materials giving the masses an alternative to cutting down trees for fuel.  In turn Ambassador Tan infected Dennis Drake and Juviro Hagup  (pictured in the center) of IDEA Philippines with the vision.  Now a group of deaf men working with IDEA Philippines are producing these wonderful rice hull burning stoves.  Ambassador Tan even gave a grant  for 100 stoves which will then be made available to low income people on Bohol.  IDEA hopes to introduce these stoves in Leyte and employ some of the deaf high school graduates there as well.

So here stands the team of promoters behind the first batch of Mayon stoves to come off the still crude but improving, assembly line at the IDEA Philippines shop.  It was great to have Perla to demonstrate the proper way to use the stoves and give the IDEA staff tips on marketing them.  In her demonstration of the stove and only using rice hulls as fuel, she was able to get one liter of water to a boil in only six minutes.  That’s a hot fire.

Ambassador Tan demonstrates lighting technique for the stove.

For many years we have been dreaming of having a well equipped computer lab at Bohol Deaf Academy.  Our attempts have been based on used computers that were outdated by the time we got them.  Even so we did the best with what we had but time, humidity, and heat are not kind to electronic at our school so that 90% of those old computers have totally died.

The Consuelo Foundation has come to the rescue with not only new computers but also a whole list of e-skills modules for teaching vocational skills.  This list of skills range from cooking to welding  . . .  from sewing to carpentry . . . . from electronic to landscaping.  The manner in which these courses are presented on computer provide our deaf students with individual, independent study allowing them to progress at their own rate.  Along with the computer e-skills training, the students are then put into actual environments such as kitchens, wood or metal shops, hotels, sewing rooms, etc., etc. to gain practice hands on experience.

CHECK OUT THE RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY

that took place on June 17th, 2011

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI3jvW_p9bg

June Sixth Marks The

Beginning of a New School Year

Each May we survey the mountains on the islands of Bohol and Leyte for deaf children who have never been in school.  The survey only lasts a week and is carried out by the teachers.  This means they spend many hours riding on the back of motorcycles into the most remote mountain jungles in search of these children.  It is a big job to convince parent to bring there handicapped children down to school.

Not all the children found during the surveys will actually report to enroll in classes.  Although June 6 is the official day that the 2011 – 12 school year starts, many of the new enrollees will trickle in over a two to three week period.

From the priliminary reports from the eight elementary schools where IDEA supports classrooms for the Deaf, more than 60 children have entered our kindergarten classes last week.  It is expected that this number will grow over the next two weeks.

This means that our expected enrollment of deaf children in all grades will be over 450 students this school year.

Faces of New Prep Deaf Students

These are  just a few of the new prep deaf students who have just entered school for the first time in Maasin, Southern Leyte.  They come with almost no language skills.  This is true regardless if they are five years old like the boy on the left or 14 years old like the boy on the right.  They have a tough climb ahead of them but are so excited to have the chance to attend school.  IDEA is making this possible.

for IDEA Deaf Students

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs114qH-Q4c

The gift giving was probably actually meant to happen in December of 2010 but a 40 foot shipping container full of  “Gifts in a Shoe Box” from Samaritan’s Purse got held up in Philippine Customs.  With the final release of the container van, we got a last minute notice that some of our deaf students could avail of these gifts during the second week of June.

Check out the video to see the fun the kids had opening the gifts.  Some of the stuff in the gifts was not age appropriate for our students but they were excited to share them with their younger brothers and sisters.

Also the children of IDEA’s married deaf couples got Samaritan’s Purse gifts during their Sunday School class out at the Tiptip Deaf Church.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvuNF4s3hog

Thank you Samaritan’s Purse.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9u44f3fmz0

Graduation is always a celebration for every student. It is a time when all of your family and friends gather and congratulate you with well wishes for the future. But when you happen to be deaf and a graduate, there is more reason to celebrate. In a country where deaf awareness is still a work in progress, not all hearing-impaired have had the opportunity to undergo formal education.

For the school year 2010-2011, the Bohol Deaf Academy, Bohol’s only special education institution that offers secondary education for the Deaf, is proud to present to the community its 19 graduates. They had their commencement exercises on March 31, 2011 at the BDA campus. Such a triumphant feat is not only a reflection of each student’s success but also the continuous realization of IDEA’s vision and mission of having a society wherein the Deaf enjoy social and economic equality; as well as, assisting them to achieve self-reliance by providing academic, vocational, physical, spiritual and economic opportunities.

Chady and Marianne Guivencan with their proud parents

Leading the class in their academic victory are siblings Chady Guivencan and Marianne Guivencan of Panglao Island, known for its fine powdery sand and white beaches. Both are top performers in their class, not just academically for they also demonstrated leadership traits by being elected as class officers. It is with this sense of hard work and dedication that they look forward to finding jobs after graduation in order to help their parents and improve their standard of living. Chady is interested in the food service industry and dreams of landing a job that involves cooking. Meanwhile, Marianne wants to apply the skills she learned in school in the field of food technology. Equipped with values and a positive outlook in life, we are sure that these siblings will achieve their life’s dreams!

Another graduate who is excited to receive his diploma is Jay Cahimat. Jay shall forever be grateful to his aunt, who supports his schooling and other needs especially that his immediate family is in Manila. Early last year, Jay’s brother who had long been suffering with kidney problem died. Such tragic news caused him much sadness, but amidst the grief, Jay chose to remain strong and dedicate his achievements to his brother. This strength made Jay earn the trust and respect of the BDA studentry, who elected him as the Class President for the school year. He hopes to pursue a college education to further broaden his horizons and even plans to be a working student in order to save enough money to finance his studies. As they say, “reach for your stars,” and he is doing just that.

A health condition almost prevented Cheryl Ceniza from finishing high school; but thankfully, she made it through with the support and encouragement of her family and friends. To Cheryl, BDA will always be a place of happy memories since it is where she shared lots of laughter and funny moments with her classmates. She truly appreciates the peaceful environment of the school and that is why, when she soon ventures out into the real world in search for work and greener pastures, she hopes it will be in a place of serenity like BDA.

With this new set of graduates, IDEA is closer to its goal of eradicating illiteracy among the Deaf as it seeks to empower them to become productive members of society. Congratulations Batch 2011 BDA graduates! Spread your wings and soar high!