Gifts for Bohol and Leyte in 2011
The deaf kids were so excited when December 13 rolled around. They knew that was the day that “Mrs. Clause”, and her elves, the IDEA Philippines office staff, would be coming to their dormitories with loads of Christmas gifts.
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 every one of the children received some nice presents. There were smiles all around.
“Mrs. Clause” 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.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XzGF5SEXxQ