Greater Voice Project Report
The Rotary Foundation Matching Grant
By
Apr 28, 2004, 11:22

1.    What is the purpose of this project? Provide a brief description.     

Summary Statement:  The future is bright for the thousands of deaf and hard of hearing children in the Dominican Republic, but only with support from humanitarian projects like this one.  The community of San Pedro de Macoris has virtually no support for their efforts to deal with these specialized problems. Rotary International can be the instrument of change that expands the world of the hard of hearing, leaving a legacy of goodwill and lifelong learning for a gracious people.

Program Introduction: "Hearing is the soul of knowledge and information of a high order. To be cut off from hearing is to be isolated indeed." ^[i]   Those words, voiced by Helen Keller in 1955, resonate today within the stark cement structure of the only school for the deaf in San Pedro de Macoris, one of the poorest communities in the Dominican Republic, called Collaborativo Alternativo de Experimental de los Ninos Sordo (CAES).  There are over 150 students enrolled at this privately run institution, where the majority of students struggle to listen and to learn, where parents starve for emotional support, and where teachers yearn for training.  Parents and teachers, while devoted to these children, endure extreme poverty.  Children are isolated from their communities, and they do not have good hearing services, technology and auditory-oral/verbal education to help them learn to listen and speak.  Dominicans value education, recognize its powerful significance, and are willing to make great sacrifices to give their children a good education so their bright, intelligent children can lead productive, fulfilling lives in a community where speech is the main method of communication.  They unanimously want to teach their children spoken language and to lead independent lives.

Purpose:  This project will best serve the needs of this disability population by embracing four areas of concern:  Hearing Technology, Teacher and Parent Training, Hearing Health Service and Treatment, and technically required structural modifications that meet program goals (through donations and volunteerism).  Through training, sourcing and distribution of audiometric equipment, hearing aids, sound field systems, supplies and educational materials, we will build a foundation on which this school can grow and support the needs of all deaf and hard of hearing children in this community.  Two Rotary Clubs, volunteer Rotarians and Partners for A Greater Voice, an organization devoted to this area of service, will work collaboratively to provide the necessary support for the project.

Summary:  There is a bright future for thousands of deaf and hard of hearing children in the Dominican Republic, but support must be brought into the country to help them make valuable steps forward.  The community of San Pedro de Macoris has virtually no support in this specialized area.  We need Rotary International to help the process for a lifetime of learning and help us care to make the world a bigger place for a deaf or hard of hearing childã.

2.   How will it meet the needs of the community?

When it comes to deafness, one usually thinks of sign language as an adaptive accommodation.  However, an analysis of most cultures reveals that children need to learn to speak in order to flourish, or in some cases, even to survive. This is especially true in impoverished areas. Without speech, children are alienated from their families, rejected from regular public schools and shunned by the workforce. These children are bright. They need us to help them reach out beyond their silent world. As if the burden of poverty wasn't discouraging enough, the world of silence can remove all hope. Parents of children in San Pedro de Macoris want to teach their community that their deaf children are not sordo mudo (deaf mute) but that they are capable, deaf children with a voice and talent to contribute and participate in society.

We know that deaf and hard of hearing children do much better with amplified technologies when the technologies are combined with related services, and specifically when parent/teacher training, hearing aid deployment, technically sound environment for learning and hearing health management are instilled.  Program visits from volunteer specialists in the field of hearing health, auditory development and technology are required to set up this system of support.

This project will result in a better way to identify and serve the population of deaf and hard of hearing children who are striving to find their place in the community and who are fighting for their right to an education. By providing services and meeting technical needs in a central location (CAES), we will be highly visible and available to many more children in San Pedro de Macoris. Of course, successfully meeting the needs of this desperate community requires that an integrated system of support be established - one that is multifaceted, not just simply dispensing hearing aids. This support system will require specialized training in the field of auditory development, hearing screening, and audiology management.  It requires parent involvement, teacher training, and support from the community and non-profit corporations that are vested in this specialized area.

To teach children to speak, and to give them a better quality of life, we must first work with the teachers and parents.  Doing so will alter forever the education of deaf and hard of hearing children in San Pedro de Macoris.   These children look up to us with sad eyes from their world of silence, desperate for help and the knowledge that they are worthy, capable human beings.  We know that they can learn to speak and receive an education so they too can be a part of their community and participate in the workforce when they are older.

3.   How will the host and international partners communicate and work together to implement this project?  Please provide specific examples of activities.

The Rotary Club of Topsfield, Massachusetts will collaborate with the San Pedro de Macoris Rotary Club in the Dominican Republic on this project, with support from several other members of the community, including several volunteer Rotarians in the Dominican Republic and the non-profit organization Partners for A Greater Voice.  In fact, communication between clubs has already begun.   The host and international Rotary clubs are engaged in email communication and telephone conversations with support from Partners for A Greater Voice who is currently vested in working with schools for the deaf in the Dominican Republic.  

Working with Partners for A Greater Voice, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization whose president is a Rotarian, the two collaborating Rotary clubs will source and deliver technical equipment and supplies, including hearing aids for qualified children, office equipment and school supplies (some of which will be donated).  Rotarian Joanne Travers, who has frequented the school last year, will travel to CAES to prepare for this Rotary International project.  As a specialist in this field, Ms. Travers will organize the project, including teacher and parent training in Auditory-oral/verbal development.  She will provide necessary training and educational materials that foster the development of testing, treatment and therapy services for the children learning to listen and speak.  Through a collaborative effort, Rotary can make a huge impact on the lives of children living with hearing loss.    This project is broken into four major areas of concern as previously mentioned:  Hearing Technology, Teacher and Parent Training, Hearing Health Service and Treatment, and technically required structural modifications that meet program goals.   The project involves logistical management and coordination of many activities to meet these concerns, which Partners for A Greater Voice has agreed to do.

The following outlines some of the steps that will be followed, as well as the responsible party:

1)                  Constant and open communications among club participants for project duration, involving Rotarian Joanne Travers, Orlando Vargas (Honorary Rotarian), and Mr. Humphreys (president of San Pedro de Macoris Rotary Club).  Involvement of Topsfield, Boxford, Middleton Rotary Club members.

2)                  Sourcing of technical devices, equipment and education materials ?Rotary Club of Topsfield, Boxford, Middleton with direction from Rotarian Joanne Travers.

3)                  Secured delivery of materials and equipment, Orlando Vargas, with receiving assistance from the Rotary Club of San Pedro de Macoris and Orlando Vargas.

4)                  Pre-project planning visit at CAES: Joanne Travers, Rotarian and President of Partners for A Greater Voice along with Rotary members from San Pedro and volunteer specialists.

5)                  Logistical coordination, including air, transportation, housing, etc. made by Joanne Travers and Orlando Vargas with assistance from Rotarians of the San Pedro de Macoris Rotary Club.

6)                  Training to parents and teachers: Partners for A Greater Voice and volunteers specializing in the field of auditory-oral development.

7)                  Hearing Screening, testing and diagnosis: volunteer audiologists, doctors from San Pedro de Macoris, representatives of Partners for A Greater Voice.

8)                  Acoustic modifications to testing and learning environments: donations, Rotary member involvement, and volunteers.

9)                  Post Project follow through by Joanne Travers, with continued communication with Director of CAES, and a twelve-month monitoring period from the Rotary Club of San Pedro de Macoris. (Continued support expected)

10)               Email and telephone conversations nurturing teacher/parent needs: Partners for A Greater Voice.

11)               Compilation of final reports and presentation; Topsfield, Boxford, Middleton Rotary Club.

Working as a collaboration, participants in this project will source and deliver all necessary equipment and materials for the project (some of which will be donated or purchased by Partners for A Greater Voice).  Working together we will deliver the necessary auditory training that teachers, parents and children strive for.  Working together we will create an environment acoustically and technically required to develop speech.  Working together we can give these children the opportunity to learn to listen, to speak, and to grow independently in the community.  This population so desperately needs The Rotary Foundation and Rotary International to help them succeed.

Project Management:   With assistance from devoted Rotarians Orlando Vargas and Joanne Travers (president of the non-profit 501(c)3 organization called Partners for A Greater Voice), Rotary will automatically have in place several safe guards for ensuring good project management and implementation.  Joanne Travers, TBM Rotarian and President of Partners for A Greater Voice, visited San Pedro de Macoris in 2003, assessed the critical needs, and has devoted herself to helping build skills and experiences of parents, teachers and professionals helping deaf and hard of hearing children learn to speak in the Dominican Republic.  (Thus, a community needs assessment has already been done)  Joanne will coordinate the project with Orlando Vargas, Honorary Rotarian of Santo Domingo, who is heavily involved in philanthropic missions in the Dominican Republic.  Mr. Humphreys, Rotary Club President of San Pedro des Macoris, will support transportation, housing and equipment sourcing and delivery, while also securing other in-country logistics.  These devote Rotarians along with other service-minded individuals know their community well, and they have met other philanthropic needs of this community.  Together they will oversee the mission, managing day-to-day activities.  They will ensure sound management and coordination of this Rotary mission with support from volunteer Audiologists, Teachers of the Deaf trained in Auditory-oral Education, and other volunteers that will visit the school to provide testing, treatment and training.

Outcome/management: Audiometric equipment and training on hearing screenings will bring future support to newly identified children in the community of San Pedro de Macoris.  The school for the deaf (CAES) will become the main point of contact for families with children suspected of or having a hearing loss.  Through CAES, parents can receive important information about deafness, how to care for their child, how to raise a child with a hearing loss, and how to find an appropriate educational environment.  Additionally, as a community-based program, the school may produce revenue by servicing children in the area.  That income will cover the cost to maintain and calibrate equipment and to subsidize free consultations for a very needy population.

The Rotary Club of San Pedro de Macoris will ensure on going support to help grow this community service program, while seeking revenue to add staff or volunteers as needed.  Presently, the Rotary Club of San Pedro de Macoris has agree to provide volunteers for the movement of goods and security of expensive equipment.  They will help other volunteers on the project with housing, transportation and daily meals.  They will assist the project with whatever limited resources and connections they have, and provide support to the school as best possible.