Pastor Joe McGourn and Dennis Drake

Brothers in the work to help the Deaf in the Philippines

IDEA Philippines had a wonderful visit from Pastor Joe McGourn, founder of “My Children’s House of Hope” and his group from Manila.  The group was made up of teacher’s of the Deaf, principals, and staff at their “Bahay Bata 127 Center” in Manila.  This center located near the mountain of trash in Manila know as Smokey Mountain,  is the focus of the work of Pastor Joe McGourn.  You can learn more about this center and their work at their website, www.mychildrenshouseofhope.org. Their visit was in the spirit of sharing of mutual experiences in working with the Deaf in the Philippines and some of the challenges it presents.  IDEA Philippine’s teachers where really touched by the exchange and basically made many new friends and learn a lot from the Manila group.

In addition, Pastor Joe and his group generously brought shoes to give away to our IDEA deaf students.  Above is pictured the distribution of the shoes up at the Bohol Deaf Academy.

The Bahay Bata Center crew with a few staff from IDEA Philippines.

IDEA Philippines wishes to thank Pastor Joe and his entire group for coming to Bohol to share with our teachers, staff, and kids.  What a wonderful and rare treat.

True Hands-On Training

Every Monday and Tuesday are vocational training days up at Bohol Deaf Academy.  These two full days of skills training allow us to focus on “real projects” that are commercially viable and provide the students with employable skills.  Pictured above is the upholstery class as they produce a sofa that has been ordered by a real customer.  Their teacher is a professional from the community who owns his own business so he is able to bring some of his orders to BDA to use as training projects.

On the two vocational days, some of the students are trained in the Deaf run business know now by it’s new name, “Sure Catching Fishing Products”.   Above, the students are helping to prepare to ship out 10,000 squirrel tail trebles while others help sort through feathers used to tie flies.  Many of these students will work in this business after they graduate from BDA.

Just Needs A Chance

Patrick Noblejas

Patrick, from Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines  became deaf at a very young age.  Despite his handicap, he had inherited an artistic gift from his father.  As a small boy he just drew all the time and with the encouragement from his parents, the artistic talent grew.  Patrick particularly liked architecture and interior design so his hardworking parents sent him off to a college in Manila where he could continue to develop his skills.  This was a pretty tough situation being the only deaf person in his school.  When it came time for his board exam, the official rules wouldn’t allow him to have an interpreter which pretty much insured he would not make it past that hurdle.  It seems this institution has a ways to go to effectively work with the Deaf.

But talent is talent and Patrick just needs a chance to show what he can do.  So Patrick has joined the IDEA Philippines family and is now assisting Dennis Drake in designing the interiors for the renovations at Dao Diamond Hotel; guest rooms, lobby, function hall, and landscaping.  He is also now challenged to come up with a design for the a radical remodel that will give IDEA its new medical, dental, and hearing clinic.

When Patrick is asked if he likes his new job, it is an emphatic YES.  IDEA Philippines is happy to give him a chance.

Nipa Pavilion at Dao Diamond No More

The Nipa Pavilion at IDEA Philippines Dao Diamond Bed and Breakfast has been standing for 7 years.  It was made up of full tree trunk posts, bamboo trusses, and a thatched roof.  Being made of these light materials, the building was really starting to show its age.  We really didn’t know how unstable it had become until we began the demolition process.  The workers started to climb on the roof but became nervous with how it shook so they tied a rope to the trusses, climbed down and gave a good yank.  The whole roof came down all at one time.  The bamboo and wood termites had done their job over the seven years.

With the Nipa Pavilion gone, we are now in need of an expansion to the function hall at the hotel.  With a limited budget, we began to look at inexpensive ways to build and hit on the idea of using old treated wooden power poles.  It seems the local utility company has a policy now to change all the poles with new concrete ones.  So we set about sorting through the piles of old wooden poles hoping to find enough that were still good.  Fortunately, IDEA was given a Caterpillar Loader/Backhoe many years ago and using this machine was the only way we could have picked through the piles of heavy poles.

Caterpillar Loader/Backhoe donated by T&E of Billings, Montana 8 years ago.

WHAT IS A COCO-PILOT?

In the process of carrying out some renovations at Dao Diamond, a few VERY tall coconut trees had to go.  So how does one cut down a 50 foot giant coconut tree without a bunch of fancy equipment.  First of all you need a machete knife and a fellow like Nilo, one of IDEA Philippines deaf employees.  He is known locally as a “Coco-Pilot”.  These are guys who can fearlessly fly in the tops of these giant coconut trees.  They usually earn their livings collecting the nuts or the juice.   In this case, Nilo first cut all the leaves and then tied ropes at the top.  A crew of guys then got on the ends of the ropes to precisely guide the trees as they fell.  With buildings and concrete fences near by, there were only feet to spare so precision was absolutely necessary.

DORM ROOMS CONVERTED AT DAO DIAMOND

IDEA's construction crew furously working on the hotel to meet a deadline.

IDEA Philippines small hotel, Dao Diamond Bed and Breakfast has been in existence for about 8 years.  It was established to give a place of employment and training for the Deaf and to earn an income to help underwrite the deaf education program.  It has been true to its objectives every since and has undergone a number of transformations in an attempt to stay attractive to the public.

Dao Diamond has several different types of accommodations.  It has featured dormitory rooms which would hold 5 bunk-beds.  We often host non-profit groups or government groups that uses these facilities but private rooms are much more in demand.  While still retaining 6 dormitory rooms, another six old dorm rooms have now been converted to either private standard rooms or private family rooms.  The move to convert these rooms has paid off as they are proving popular with tourists and travelers.

LUNCH TIME AT BDA

As you look at the above picture, you are probably thinking, “Gee, that’s a nice dinning room”.  You are right.  It is hard to connect to the fact that almost all these deaf high school students come from poverty.  Some have only dirt floors in their one room family homes.  Many of the kids parents can not afford to put shoes on their kids feet or feed them 3 times a day.  So it’s easy to understand why they LOVE their school.  They have a beautiful, clean, safe place to learn thanks to you, our donors and sponsors.

SEEING MORE CLEARLY

About eight months ago, a donor from Billings contacted Dennis Drake of IDEA to tell him that he had just heard a wonderful speaker and learned of a really great mission project.  Dennis followed up and contacted the recommended organization.  The premise of the organization is as follows:

Our aim is to enable literate poor, especially Christians, to obtain a useable pair of reading glasses at an affordable price.

We train nationals and missionaries to make these glasses.

No welding or soldering is necessary –

No screws or rivets.

Simple process primarily involves the bending of a stainless steel wire, using a simple jig and commonly used hand tools.

Reading glasses only – generally we order powers from +1.00  to +4.00

Glasses for Missions, Inc.

Dale Rozell

4310 SW 4th Street
Plantation, Florida 33317

Phone: (954) 581-5266
Email:dnarozell@comcast.net

After talking with Pastor Dale Rozell, the developer of these glasses, Dennis decided to have IDEA purchase the starter kit that’s good for making 300 glasses.  IDEA Philippines former In-House contractor, Roy Divino, now pastors a great little church full time so Dennis decided to hand over this glasses ministry to him.  This is turning out to be a wonderful avenue of witnessing for Christ and putting God’s love in action.  As Roy said, they are making many glasses and making many new friends.  Recently another person who was witnessing Roy’s glasses ministry in action decided to give a free Bible in the Cebuano language along with every pair of glasses given away.

(above) Pastor Roy checks a person’s eye sight using a special set of lenses with an eye chart which actually asks particular question that relate to a persons understanding of God.  Next, a church member makes the glasses to fit the prescription and then the church members just get to know their new friends.  Some of these new friends have joined Bible studies the church started in their communities.

Four fellows who got new glasses.

Getting Ready for the Honolulu Rotary Club

Preparing for landscaping in front of the clinic.

Preliminary work has begun for the conversion of a building at the back of the IDEA Philippine’s office property into a clinic.  This is a project that is underwritten by the Rotary Club of Honolulu.  The club is sending over a team of 20 volunteers in April to help with the conversion work.  This building will be the new home for our medical, dental, and hearing clinics.  It was formerly housed in our Dao Diamond Hotel.  The dream for this clinic is that it will not only serve IDEA’s deaf students and workers but that we will also host free clinics for the impoverished regular population in the capital city.  The hope is to attract a pediatrician and a dentist with the lure of free rent and that they will set up their practices at our clinic building.  We will only ask that they serve our deaf group free of charge and that they will be willing to work with visiting volunteer doctors in conducting periodical free clinics.

. . . for our daily bread.

Cerilo, our head baker who is deaf, proudly shows off some freshly baked rolls he has made in our new bakery building at Bohol Deaf Academy.  The building was built by our deaf construction crew as well as some French volunteers from the ASMAE Foundation.  ASMAE also provided a large portion of the funding for the building.

Having the building was only half of the equation.  We then needed bakery equipment.  The AWCP, American Women’s Club of the Philippines came to the rescue on this issue.  The biggest ticket item was purchasing a commercial quality convection oven but then there were many other things like tables, refrigerator, sinks, etc., etc..

Our three full time deaf bakers put out high quality products 7 days a week.  On Mondays and Tuesdays, they also take in deaf vocational students from BDA to work along side them as OJTs, “On the Job Trainees”.  Along with selling the bread through Garden Cafe, we have begun route sales such as carrying baskets of bread through government offices at snack time.  The neighborhood around BDA is also beginning to purchase bread directly from our bakery.

Bread Display at Garden Cafe

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