We were able to fit about 90 children with about 170 hearing aids in just 3 days’ time. I never get over just how incredible it is to give someone the gift of hearing for the first time. Every time, it is incredible to see a child light up upon hearing their first sounds, and the reaction (and usually tears) of the parents hearing their children say their first words.

This trip was especially rewarding, as this time we were working at CAES school for the deaf- a truly remarkable place.

Arriving at CAES the first thing you notice is that it seems extremely quiet for how many children you see running around. The smiles and quick hand movements show how excited the students are to have visitors that look so different. Quickly glancing around I noted that there were two main buildings with unfinished second floors, a bathroom, a small cafeteria shack, and what looked like small offices. There are also several trees, a basketball court and a large garden. Along with the children are several adults, some of them are speaking and others are signing. We are introduced to Jose Montilla, the founder of this institute. As we sit in the shade on some benches he begins his story.

Jose used to fix shoes for a living. He and his family were able to use this skill to feed themselves and send him to university. It wasn’t much, but at least it put food on the table. One day a young deaf mute came to him and asked him to repair his shoes for free. Jose conveyed to this young boy that he had to eat and he couldn’t do it for free. The young boy had nothing to give him, so Jose decided that he would teach him how to repair his own shoes. The next day the young boy returned with three of his friends, who were also deaf. The next day 5, and the next day 10. This was the beginning of his school for the deaf. During his story I couldn’t help but feel that this very unassuming man was not only bright, but brimming with compassion.

As more and more people came to Jose and he began to realize the needs of the deaf community in San Pedro, he needed a space. He was able to use a small piece of land and meet with students in the shade of some trees. They then built a shack so that they could study out of the elements. Because there was no electricity and no money to buy candles, they decided to teach the children how to make them. The children would make the candles for the class room and sell them to help support the school.

One day, while in Santo Domingo he saw an advertisement for one of the main private schools for Deaf children. Contacting them and showing them the school they quickly wanted to help. They contacted some of their supporters at the U.S. Embassy and with the Japanese government. The U.S. Embassy donated the funds to buy the materials and build the main school house, while the Japanese government donated the funds to build the technical school, and another government agency donated some computers and the school and the community did further fundraising to buy more computers giving them a large enough lab to get approved by the local university as a training center.

The public schools in San Pedro and all around the Dominican Republic don’t want deaf children and turn them away. As more and more people heard about Jose’s school, they would send him more and more unwanted deaf children. Now this school serves the entire East side of the Dominican Republic. With the little resources that he had he refused to turn these children away. “If you have a loaf of bread and five people are hungry, you share it between them. If you have that same loaf of bread, but 100 are hungry, you share that loaf of bread with all of them.” There are now four centers for the deaf in different areas of the Dominican Republic, all of which have a teacher and meet wherever they can. CAES serves a total of 250 deaf students, and many more alumni.

CAES has now been running for 18 years. The school teaches lip reading as well as Sign Language. (They have just developed a Dominican Sign-language which matches the culture and country where these students will live the rest of their lives). It is one of the only school in the Dominican Republic which teaches both. The two main private schools in Santo Domingo teach one or the other. The institute also teaches reading, writing, basic arithmetic, and trade skills.

Their technical school has four rooms. The first is where they teach the students basic maid service skills so that they might obtain a job in the local hotels and resorts. The second room is a computer class where students learn basic and advanced computer skills. The local Dominican technical university has a partnership with the school and students that complete the program leave with a certified computer technical degree. The third room is the beauty school where students learn the basics of being a beautician. The last room is the massage school. Here students learn massage therapy skills so that they might be able to get jobs at the resorts. Each of these rooms gives students skills to do more than just survive. These rooms give deaf children and adults opportunities to live. Out of the other schools in the Dominican Republic they have the highest success rate of deaf graduates finding jobs.

The school also has a program that provides cows to adult alumni of the school. The cow’s milk helps give nutrition to the adult and their family. They are required to give the first calf away to another graduate. After this they then are free to use the cow however they see fit. Whether to continue breeding and develop a side income from selling calves.  They currently have 24 animals in the project!

Jose also shared with us the struggles that people with disabilities face daily from families, the local communities, and their government. When you go to a family of a disabled child and ask after them, many of the parents will not recognize their name. After persistent questions, the parent will recognize that you are talking about their “crazy one”. Having a child with disabilities in the Dominican Republic is considered by the culture to be disgraceful. Many wealthy families will send their children to special schools where their maidservants will bring them food and things they need. But they won’t see them for months on end.

It is our plan to make this project self-sustaining. We are in the process of setting up a full time earmold lab at the facility, which will create jobs for some of the students at the school, and the revenue from it will provide additional income to purchase more hearing instruments for the students.

It was truly an exciting time, a rewarding experience, and a huge amount of food for the soul. I can’t wait to go back.

Dusty Potter
President
Ear Level Communications, Inc.