Published Tue, Sep 04, 18. Written by .
Summer Jobs for the Deaf
While many regular hearing students were looking forward to a summer of vacation and beach days, most of our high school students were busy seeking ways to make their summer productive.
IDEA strives to open doors for life skills and employment opportunities to our deaf students. This summer, we had 18 students working at our various Employment and Income Generating Projects (EIGP), Fifteen students also got the summer job slots at the Bohol Provincial Agriculture Department taking care of the seedlings at the plant nursery. The students surely got a dose of reality in the work environment as they learned how to establish good work ethics and manage their time and budget their money as well.
With such valuable skills, IDEA is positive that our students will be anticipating a much brighter future and become assets to society.
Taking the Road to a Hopeful Future
Covered in mud from the rice fields where she was playing, Michelle ran to the well to clean herself. Her mother came walking towards her with two other women. When they caught sight of her, Michelle began to feel anxious for no good reason. She quickly climbed up into a nearby tree and hid herself probably because of fear or shame. She didn’t want to face them until her mother convinced her to come down.
The two women accompanying her mother were teachers for the deaf who immediately began befriending her and tried to encourage her to come to school with simple gestures. Michelle’s eyes suddenly glowed as she connected the gestures to “writing” and “reading”. As the teachers continued to point to her, it suddenly clicked that they were telling her that she could go to school like her older siblings.
6 year old Michelle is one of the new found deaf children in Bohol, located when IDEA sent teachers once again to search for unschooled deaf children this summer. The teachers visit to their home was a ray of hope for her parents when they knew that their daughter could be helped.
Despite financial difficulties, her parents willingly brought her to school even if it meant they would only see her every other weekend. Michelle had never been away from her family before, but her parents were willing to endure missing her as they wanted the best for her. Her joy and excitement in class makes it a bit easier for her parents to leave her at the IDEA dormitory in the town of Talibon where she is safe and lived by IDEA’s dorm moms. She now has 57 new deaf brothers and sisters. Michelle is now definitely on the road to a future full of possibilities and hope.