S2 E1: Deafness Around The World - What Life is Like for Deaf Children in Developing Countries

Host Crystal Hand sits down with Ginger Stanfill, the child sponsorship coordinator for Deaf Child Hope International.  With 80% of all Deaf/hard of hearing children living in developing countries, this topic is vital to the conversation of Deaf people in the world.  Giving us a wider world view of life for Deaf individuals, Ginger discusses what life is like for these children, what they are doing to help, and the greatest needs of these children all across the globe.   Ginger has been to several developing countries, working with this nonprofit organization and their partners in helping Deaf Children access resources like food, shelter, education and language. 

To learn more about Deaf Child Hope International click here:   

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This podcast is produced and owned by Crystal Hand and not associated with any other company, business or government entity.  "The Other Side of Deaf" podcast and associated websites and social media pages represent the opinions of the host and her guests on the show and do not represent or reflect the opinion of any organization the participants are employed or associated with.  The content here is for information purposes only and should not be used for medical or legal purposes. 

Transcript

Crystal: 
Hello!  Welcome back to The Other Side of Deaf.  This is Crystal Hand your host.  It is a new year and a new season for this journey.   Last season we had some amazing guests covering things like the deaf perspective, the world of sign language interpreting, teaching deaf and hard of hearing children and innovating ideas to include deaf and hard of hearing people in the world of music and dance.   So far, we have focused on deaf and hard of hearing perspectives mostly from the United States, but today we are going to cast our net wider and look at deaf experiences on a global scale.    

The World Health Organization estimates that there are around 32 million deaf children in the world, 80 percent or 25 million of whom live in developing countries.   That means that 25 million children don't have access to things like hearing technology, intervention services, or even access to language.  Often these children are outcasts in their community because of their lack of communication ability.   This is definitely a subject to shine a spotlight on.    

Today my guest is Ginger Stanfill, the child sponsorship coordinator for a small organization called Deaf Child Hope International.   The mission of this organization -  to find deaf children in poverty conditions around the world and with the help of their partners provide essentials to those children like food, shelter, clothes, education and of course language.  But just as important as all of these things, they seek to show that there is a place in this world for these children.  Deaf Child Hope International has partners and works in 11 different countries and my guest Ginger has been to eight of those locations giving her a great picture of the needs of these deaf children.  We have a lot to explore today so let's get started.   

 Hi Ginger!   I'm so glad to have you here.   

Ginger: 
Hi Crystal, I'm so glad to be here too.  Thanks for inviting me. 

Crystal: 
Yeah so, we are gonna get started right away.  So, let's first talk about what Deaf Hope International is and how they got started and what exactly they do.   

Ginger:
The  Deaf Child hope is a non-profit, a Christian non-profit organization that works to support deaf children in poverty in developing countries.   So, it's an international program.  It got started, I'll back up just a little bit.   Several years ago there's a man named Dwayne King that started deaf missions and um that's a wonderful organization that has recently completed interpreting the entire Bible in ASL which is wonderful.   But his son JD King through his father working through this organization,  he come to find out that there are 25 million deaf children in poverty.   When I say in poverty, I'm talking about in developing countries in a third world country and just the more he learned about that,  the more he learned about their isolation and their opportunities are so limited um and some of the cultural beliefs surrounding these children,  he decided that he wanted to establish a non-profit that solely worked to support those children.   He just felt like that that was a specific need that needed a specific organization.   So Deaf Child Hope has 13 Partners in 11 different countries and these partners are ministries that are specifically supporting deaf children.   And they are all Christian organizations and we did not establish these organizations they were already there.   They're there on the field working to educate deaf children and to make sure that they are safe and loved and so Deaf Child Hope is coming along beside them and giving them support mostly financial.  And we do that through child sponsorships.  Which I can give more information about that later.   Where a person has the opportunity to sponsor a deaf child.  And then so every month we're sending money to our partners that are supporting.   And then we also support them by taking mission trips to the country to visit them, to develop relationships to see what their needs are just finding out other ways that that we can that we can help them.   

Crystal: 
 So, you guys work with partners on the ground and so your main focus is to help with the financial portion of supporting these missions all across the world.   

Ginger:
Yes.   

 Crystal: 
So how exactly did you get involved? 

 Ginger: 
I am a former teacher of the deaf, so I spent my career teaching deaf children.   Sometimes within a deaf school, half my career, the other half I'm teaching special education in public schools.  So, most of that time was at the deaf school and they're just kind of time in my life where I was feeling discontented even though I knew that that was God's call in my life to work with deaf children and to teach them to read and write.   And I primarily worked with preschool-aged children so just teaching them language and you know I loved everything about it, but I was feeling like something was missing.  And so, I just asked God one day why I am feeling this way.  I'm teaching, I thought that was my purpose was to teach deaf children to read and write and you know social skills and language and I felt like God said well how many have you taught about me and that answer was none.   Even though I felt like as a Christian teacher I was loving my children with the love of Christ that you know I feel like I was doing it but I was not intentionally teaching any deaf children about Jesus.   And so, that sort of led to me researching what's out there what are some organizations.   I also kind of felt a pull to go on a mission trip I had a missionary came to our church and was talking and so I found Deaf Childe Hope and signed up to go on a trip and fell in love with the organization and volunteered.  Um, this was about 10 years ago that I first heard about the organization, and we just sort of donating some of my time here and there was continuing to go on mission trips and then in 2020 I was feeling discontented again even though I was still in education.   I made the decision that I would leave education and through that decision it wasn't long after I turned in my resignation that JD King called me and said what are you doing these days.  I really need some help.  And so, I became a staff member.   And that took a leap of faith, leaving a good paying job to join a ministry so but it all worked out.   Everything's been great so that's sort of how I got involved.   

Crystal:
So, you mentioned before that Deaf Hope International is in 11 different countries and you've been to five of them and worked with seven of the different partners.   So tell us about that experience.   And what is it that you kind of see in these developing countries.   And and also what are these countries like where have you been?   

Ginger:
Um I have been to Mexico, Haiti, Ethiopia, Honduras, and Jamaica.   And all of our partners are very different in their size, their needs, their programs.   Some of the children live there, in others like in Ethiopia it's more of just a program so it looks different.   But the similarities I see are how thankful the deaf children are to be in a place that they feel safe and if they feel loved and that they are around other deaf children, and you know deaf adults that it just makes such a difference in your life.   When before they may have been you know best case scenario, they're in a home where the parents love them the family love them but maybe there's no language.   They're the only deaf child in their village and so they feel very isolated.   What I see in all of these, all of the partners that I've visited, is that community.   About how much and how important it is to their emotional well-being.   

 Crystal: 
So yeah, so let's talk about the cultural differences.   So, I feel like in the United States we are very aware that there is a Deaf Community.   We are also much more tolerant as a country to people with disabilities in any shape or form.   So, tell me about what you see as far as some of these countries and how deaf children and deaf people are perceived.  Are they welcomed?   Are they rejected?   How are they treated?   You know I think that's an important thing to point out as far as the differences between a developed country like the United States and some place that's not as developed.   

 Ginger:
Yeah, it's a very good question and just in in my experiences that I've had, there are some places where there are cultural beliefs, especially in Mexico there were cultural beliefs, that if someone is born deaf or maybe with another disability, that they think that there's something wrong with them.   That they are deaf because of their sin.   So, they are immediately either shunned or there's heavy abuse in those situations.   I met a boy when I traveled to Mexico that had been attacked, outside of the school, and so there was a staff member that was getting him treatment.   He was injured and the doctor said “I don't understand why you're bringing him here.  deaf  children, deaf people don't feel pain”.   And you know that was an educated person that was saying this.   So those are some of the the cultural beliefs.   They are sometimes shunned.  There was one boy in Uganda that was found tied to a tree like an animal because that's what his family that's how they were treating him.   It's just it's heartbreaking right.   I mean we wouldn't tolerate that here in America!   Um not to say that there's not abuse, I mean we know that there is in America.   But legally wrong to do those things.   And then in these other countries it's not.   Not that this is always the case.   Like in Honduras I felt like again these are my experiences, I can't say that I know every community in every city, but it seemed to me and Honduras that they weren't thought of as evil or anything like that.   But we met a family that had a deaf son they lived sort of up in the mountains in Honduras and once they finally figured out that that's what was wrong, and they just realized it because okay he's not communicating.  He's not talking, we're not sure what it is.   He was finally diagnosed as having hearing loss and there were just no resources.  Here in America and you know this as a mother of deaf children, you have lots of options you're referred to audiologists and speech therapists and the schools, there's an education plan put in place, there's sometimes overwhelmingly  decisions that need to be made.  There's the option of Cochlear implants if you go that way.   There's the option of hearing aids.   There's all of these things where parents are surrounded with resources and that just wasn't the case in Honduras.   And this family was desperately looking for answers.  They loved their child.  They loved their little boy.   He was precious and they wanted to help him, and the doctors kept referring them to another doctor to another doctor.   Which was not easy for them to get to these doctors.   They lived up in the mountains and they would have to take a couple of buses and take a couple days off work, like it was you know take their other daughter with them it was a big ordeal than us just jumping in the car and driving a couple hours to maybe a specialist in a nearby city.  It was harder for them this journey.  And then they just ended up with no new answers. Finally, it was just word of mouth that they finally found a young teacher there that's one of our partners and she was just rounding up deaf kids in the back of her truck and taking them to her home and teaching them.   This little boy actually lived a couple of, he was way up.   It was a more rural area and so like weekly she was going and meeting with the family.   So. there's no educational opportunities.   There's not a local deaf school or a deaf program for most of these children and so that's really the challenge is that there are just no resources.   And so, we're just thankful that there are ministries that are seeing that need.   

 Crystal:  
Wow, so there's a lot to unpack there.   First of all, I think that you bring up a really good point.  So, we as Americans sometimes take for granted that our medical system, however flawed that it is, it is available to us.  So many so many people in different countries, they have a much more difficult accessing basic health care let alone specialists.   And so having somebody that does a hearing test on your child.  So again, in the United States we actually have a law that says that every newborn child has to be tested for hearing loss prior to leaving the hospital and even in home births they are required to be tested within the first three months and so that's something that's just standard law in the US.   But in these other countries that's not the case.   So, you were saying that in Honduras you know there's just somebody who goes around and looks for Deaf kids.  How do you find these kids if there's no system. 

Ginger: 
From what I’ve seen, it's usually just word of mouth.  And sometimes, like also in Honduras, we have two partners in Honduras, and they're very opposite.   The one I was just telling you about is in a smaller community in the mountains.   But then our other partner is in a bigger city and so it's a bigger school for the Deaf that's known.   They know that the school is there.  So, it's they know where to take them.   So, a lot of it just varies on the area where the child is born and how far out they are.   But um, just in my experiences it's just through word of mouth that these families are finding out that their resources there.   I will say that some of our partners, especially the one in Mexico, the same one that I visited which that was the first place I went.   So, I've visited them in 2013. And so, they've actually come a long way and they're doing a good job at trying to educate the community about deaf people and the deaf community and offering classes and trying to get change so that there are more resources.  And at least the people know where to look but it takes a lot of effort.   And so that's what I see.  That's probably another side of our partners, they're educating the children but then at the same time they're trying to educate the public.  And some partners do better at that than others it just usually depends on how long they've been around and how established how established they are.   

Crystal:  
So, that's another thing let's talk about.   You mentioned the lack of resources so let's just say for example in best case scenario,  you've got a family or a community that that has a deaf child they accept them,  they love them,  there's no cultural barriers with that but yet there's lack of resources so what is it that these partners do that you have how do they first of all help these kids in situations like that?  I know like for example do they get hearing technology? Do they teach sign language?   Like what is exactly do they start with if these kids have no language?   Because let's be honest, like one of the reasons why in the United States we have the laws that we do about testing babies which has been something that people have fought for a very long time with, and it's fairly relatively new.   So, in the United States I think it's maybe 20- 25 years old at the most that we've had those laws.   But that was born out of having so many children be misdiagnosed until they get to kindergarten and they have no language and and then there's such a delay.   So, you're seeing kids who don't have any language and they might be five, six, seven, years old.   So how do your partners deal with that?   Like where do they start?   

 Ginger:
That's a good question.   Um and again all of our partners look a little different but one thing that they all have in common is they just start with teaching them sign.   They put them in a sign rich environment.   They're bringing them back to the mission, hopefully and again different partners do it in different ways, but they involve the families where the families can learn some that's where they start.   It's the most important thing.  And you said six or seven, we've even seen children that are 12 before they're really diagnosed that they just don't know.   The parents just don't know what's wrong.  They know that there's something, but they don't know what.   And a little sidenote, a good video to watch that gives a clear picture, it's called Patrick speaks you can go to YouTube and just search for it it's about a teenage boy.   It's not one of our children, but it's a good representation of a boy that lives in a village in Uganda that has no language.   His parents love him.   They've learned to communicate a little bit just through made up gestures and things but then there's a man that comes along that’s a deaf man, who has learned the language.   And so, he's come into Uganda and he's teaching, he's rounding up the deaf people that have never had language before and he's teaching them sign.   And just to see, you get to kind of see that process and to look on his face.   It's a very moving video.   But to go back to what you were asking, hearing aids is usually not an option.   I have been to a couple of partners where I saw a child or two wearing hearing aids.   Usually maybe that was something that the family did or that the child really benefits, but it's not the norm.   Just because from my experience as a teacher of the deaf and all the children come in and they have their personal hearing aids and then the school that I taught we did um sign language but then we also had an FM system.   It was sort of a total communication school and so they had their own school hearing aids that they put on and we had to check them every day and there was always something wrong.   I was thankful that there was an audiologist on staff that was constantly gathering the hearing aids and troubleshooting them.   And you know there's batteries, there's upkeep, they’re expensive, and so it's just not a viable option in the places that I've been to a lot of the children.   They're coming in late, they're already behind in language, they may not have any language or very little and so what is free?   Their hands.   What's going to work is just teaching them.   Teaching them to sign and giving them language as much as they can.   

Crystal:
Yeah, I think that's so interesting, because that's something that I never thought about before is the fact that you know hearing technology, we take it for granted.  But in these developing countries even if they could get it they wouldn't necessarily have the resources or the money to upkeep everything from batteries or technology there's not easily accessible, to audiologists or ENTs that would be able to service them.   Thinking about even like a Cochlear Implant for example.  You have a have team.  You have a team.  When we send families to to get a cochlear implant in America, I mean they have an entire team of people.   An audiologist, an ENT, a speech therapist and to think that there are places that that's not a really viable option.   But yeah, that's something I never would have thought about.  Like even if we could get these hearing aids to these kids it wouldn't necessarily be sustainable.  

Okay, so when you go into these places how is your organization and your partner's organization perceived by the community outside of just the deaf and hard of hearing kids.   So, you've got the deaf families or the deaf children obviously, they're excited to be there because they're finally getting resources, getting help.   How are you guys perceived in the larger community outside of that?   

Ginger:  
Of course, we're welcomed into the ministries.   They are our partners.   We're working together with them.   To be honest, we're probably in a bubble when or in my experience when I go to these ministries and visit them.   We're usually staying on campus.   I can't say that we're perceived any differently and honestly I'm a hearing person so when I go into the community unless I'm with a group of that has mixed you know deaf and hearing,  which some mission teams are a mix of hearing and deaf, I don't know that I'm the one that can answer that question because when I visit these countries I'm visiting them as an American hearing woman.   So of course, just different countries just taking deafness out of it, are more welcoming to Americans than others.   Some are safer than others.   We sort of know that.   

 Crystal:
Okay, so let's talk about these mission trips that you go on.  You've been on several of them.  What does that look like?   So, if I would sign up tomorrow to go on a mission trip what would I be doing?   What would that look like when I get into country?  

 Ginger:
Um it would depending on where you go, it's gonna look a little different because our partners are different.  For example, when I went to Jamaica, we visited our partner it is a residential school.   Not, for the simple fact that sometimes families live far away.  Kind of like schools for the deaf here in America right, where the students go to the school through the week and then maybe on the weekends they go home.  Some of them, sometimes they're or images we have one that is an orphanage but so in that case when I went to Jamaica, we stayed at the partners campus.   We were there pretty much the whole time.   They fed us, and we slept there.   They had their accommodations for us.   We did take some off-site visits into the Deaf community to sort of see and meet them.   But primarily we were there on campus.   But then in Honduras neither one of the partners were residential so we would stay off site and then travel every morning.  So, when you come, as far as what you do day to day is going to vary just depending on which partner you go to.   But what we our purpose for going though is to develop relationships.   It's very important to us that we're able to do that.   Unlike some other mission trips where maybe it's all evangelism you know you're going to tell people about Jesus while you're in a ministry that's already doing that so it's also not necessarily going to be project based where we're going to go in and build something.   Although sometimes we have.   We always ask before the mission trip before and during the planning phase is there anything we can help you with while we're there.  So that's a possibility.   That we've gone and painted trim rooms and you know done some other things.  But we're there to strengthen those relationships.  We're there to maybe show, maybe this is your first experience with meeting deaf people outside of America and you want to see what those differences are and you want to see their perspective in the world.  And so, it's educational for the team member that's going.   We're there just to show these children that they are cared for, they are important.   We come all the way just to see them and they usually love that.   They love the interaction.   Because sometimes, these are children that don't get much interaction, maybe outside of the school, depending on the partner.   So, relationships is our top priority.   We also do some things like if you sponsor a child they're sort of a pen pal program that goes with that.  So, we're bringing the letters from the children's sponsor.   We're bringing in giving those letters to the children.   And then also, we're gathering like a letter or craft or something from them to take back and we're taking pictures.   We're meeting some of the parents if that's an option and getting their perspective.   Just learning more so that we can come back here and even gather more support.   It's a wonderful opportunity.   I think just to get outside of your bubble and just to see what life is like.   

 Crystal:
So, let's chat a little bit about your specific mission.   So, on your website you talk about you provide things like food and shelter, education for these children, and along with that language access, security.   But a big portion of your mission, and I think you kind of touched on this, is also spreading love and acceptance through your Christian ministry.   And I know that in America you know a lot of times Christians get a bad rap about a lot of things.  And you know I think it's such an amazing thing when you can go into an environment where children are not accepted and not loved and that's something that the church and, when I say church I mean Christian body, can provide.   And even if it's not evangelism, even if it's just showing them that people love them, I think that's something that a lot of people don't think about.   Because you know we think about the basics.   We think about like okay,  everybody needs food, everybody needs shelter, everybody you know should get an education, but there's a spiritual and emotional side of every person.  Of wanting to feel acceptance.   Of wanting to feel loved and if you're not getting that in your local community where is that being provided?   And so, I think it's it's such an amazing thing that your partners and your organization can go in and just really provide that emotional and spiritual aspect.   Regardless of whether people agree or believe in the Christian faith they're seeing these Christians go in there and care for these people and and so, I think that's that's such an amazing thing.   And do you find that the kids feel connection to you guys because of that?   

Ginger:
I would like to think so.  And one thing I didn't mention before, we often do come prepared with activities like Vacation Bible School type things.  where we are going to read stories and do crafts and things like that.  And something to remember too, being a deaf child, I'm just assuming I'm not a deaf person, but in my experience and here in the U.S and internationally is that it's not necessarily an easy life.   But they have very specific challenges that they have to overcome.  And even though our partners are doing all they can to provide for these children, sometimes they come in with a lot of emotional baggage.   There may be a history of abuse, there's history of neglect for a lot of these children, and so it’s  you know,  I don't want to falsely paint a picture that oh they come to the school and then they're instantly happy and everything's fine.   It's a process for a lot of these kids.   And they've got to get the language first to even understand about Jesus.  They've got to have language.   And so, once they get that, something that is very important to us at Deaf Child Hope and to our partners is that we want these children to know that even though they may have felt neglected or felt unworthy, they may still feel that way in lots of ways.   Even though they're in a safe place, that God loves them.  And that even if they were the only people here on earth, God would still have sent Jesus.   And that if they believe that, in that if they realize that they don't have to get through life doing it their own way, doing it other people's way.    That even though they may still have very challenging circumstances in their life, because life is hard.   It's hard for all of us right.  And I know it's hard for these deaf kids.   And that they have a savior that loves them so much and that will carry them through these situations.   Even if they're not removed entirely from challenges.   Because we're not.   That they have a God that loves them and wants to be with them and that gives them a sense of peace through all of the problems.   It gives them a sense of Joy even through the pain.   And that's true for all of us.   And that was something else I think I was struck in the first mission trip I took to Mexico. Which I mean the first one is sort of overwhelming.  I went and I was hesitant to go because I was leaving my own children behind.   I was going to a place where I didn't know.   It wasn't the safest.   It was um a border town, not really necessarily the safest place to go.   I have all these doubts and I'm driving myself to the airport to meet my team and I'm just sobbing.   I let doubt get in the way.   But but I go.   I go because I know that's what God wants me to do.   And I know he's going to be with me no matter what happens.   That's what he wanted me to do.   And then on the way home I'm crying as well because I'm thinking.   I've heard all these stories about how these children are mistreated and it's just so unfair, right.   I mean there's nothing fair about it.   It's awful.  But I also saw a lot of these deaf people have so much joy and so much happiness.   And you know you're like how?  How can they even have that? And it's because my new friends that I met there were Christian.   And those Christian adults and many of them were deaf, were still so happy even though they still had a very hard life and Jesus was the difference.   

Crystal: 
Yeah, I think that's so interesting because I know that when we talked before, we were discussing about how statistically speaking, I'm not sure if this is still true or not, but the deaf community is the least reached of the Christian Community.   In the fact that it's very difficult to reach them in many ways even in America.  So, in my own experience, my family we've gone to church, and you know deaf people in most religions not just Christianity, they tend to be on the outskirt's um because there's not always a lot of resources.  So, churches are considered non-profits.  They don't necessarily abide by the same laws as far as requiring access like we do for everything else.   And they often don't have resources, unless you're a big mega church there's not a budget for an interpreter.   And so, I know from our own experiences my daughter has always felt kind of on the outskirts of the faith because of that reason.   And I think it's so interesting that you know that's the experience in America and yet in these developing countries the Christian church, and again when I say church I mean the body of Christians, is the lifeline.   And how different that perspective is.   And I just think that it's such an amazing thing that when Christians do things like that it really shows what we can do as a church.   There are some amazing ministries out there that are showing so much love and caring and I just think that's an amazing thing.    

So, let's talk about your sponsorship program.   So, I actually sponsor a child I have for several years now.   My child that I sponsor is in Haiti and what I actually did was when I found out about this organization, so I felt like I was called to at least donate to a charity because if I'm really passionate about helping deaf children that's not just children in America.   As you said there's 25 million children in developing countries that are deaf, so I remember finding you and you have an entire page that says the children that need sponsorship.   And for me, what I did was I found a boy that was about the same age as my son, and I was like this could be my kid.   Like that could have been my kid if he was in a different country.   If we lived in a different country.  If he was born to a different family.   And so, I found someone that was very similar in age, and I've sponsored him for I think probably five years now.   So, let's talk about what that looks like.  So, if somebody would want to sponsor a child what does that get a child when they sponsor them? 

 Ginger: 
It is $38 a month.   You can also sponsor a teacher for $48 a month as well.  But that money, of the 38 dollars, 32 dollars goes directly to the partner.   It's not going to the child or the child's family.   It's going to that partner.   So different partners do it different ways, however they control the money is up to them.   But it all goes to that ministry.  But you get to develop a relationship with the child that you sponsor which is to me an important piece.   You'll get a prayer card that has their picture on it.   We try to update that picture annually.  Through Covid it was kind of difficult the last few years.   We finally feel like we're starting to catch up some just because trips were halted.   We weren't able to visit the partners like we wanted to.   We were relying a lot on technology and email to try to get things back and forth.   But um so you get a picture annually and updated picture and then we try to get two pieces of correspondence.  Some kind of letter or craft.   We try to do letters but then we also have children that have very limited language so it may be dictated.   Something that the child writes or something about them.   It may be written by the child or it may be written by an adult that knows the child.   Just because you know their language level varies.   Or a craft, there's something that personal that the child will send to the sponsor and then the sponsor has the opportunity to write to the child.   They love getting pictures.   We encourage our sponsors to send pictures.   Just snapshots of their family.   It is something tangible that helps them understand what the sponsorship program is.   Because that's a big, you know , you're thinking about a child with limited language and if there's someone in another country, sometimes they don't quite get it but seeing that picture and just to say this is your friend and this friend is praying for you in this language.  So to me that's just a beautiful piece of the the sponsorship program.   

 Crystal: 
So, part of the sponsorship program they get food, they get shelter, they're being educated, what exactly does that look like as far as you know when you know these these partnerships take this money and they and they're providing these resources? What exactly does that look like? 

 Ginger:  
Yes, and it's going to look different depending on the partner.   We have some partners, like right now, the partners in Haiti are struggling.   There's just a lot of civil unrest that's going on.   Some of our partners just need more.   They're struggling to feed the kids.   They're struggling to just give them their basic needs right.   So that money is absolutely being used for that.   We may have another partner that's a little more established.  They may have support coming in from other areas as well.   Maybe that money is used for teaching supplies.  Or sometimes it's used for medical care.  For like our partner in Mexico, it's a school but then it it's almost like a social work kind of experience as well where they're just getting whatever the child needs is what they're getting for them.  So, it really varies.   The one in Ethiopia which is not a deaf school it's more of a program that was developed for just the community,  children and there are hearing children involved, but there's a pocket of deaf kids,  well that money is used to help provide, there is a local deaf school in that area but the kids can't walk there like they're hearing peers have schools that are within walking distance.   Well, the deaf kids may have to take two taxies or a taxi to get to the deaf school, so that sponsorship is used to get the child to school or to have an interpreter for the after-school program that all the hearing kids are attending where they're learning about Jesus.   We provide an interpreter, so it really depends on the partner.  But it's all being used directly for the children whatever that looks like.   

Crystal:
 Yeah absolutely, and it should be noted that you're using sign language but the local sign language.   So, it's not necessarily American Sign Language, it is the sign language of that particular country.   Which if people don't know, sign language is not universal.   Each language and culture has their own sign language.   Now what I am told by a lot of people is that sign languages even though they're all different they they do cross over a little bit.   A lot of times people with different sign languages they can understand each other but they aren't the same that should be pointed out.    

So my next question is what are the age groups of these kids that are in your program?  How long do they stay?   And when they finish school what does life look like for them?   

 Ginger:
Again, it’s going to vary a little bit from partner to partner but I've seen children from I don't know that I've seen anybody younger than four.   Not saying we don't have a partner that takes them younger than that.  There are some that are able to be identified at least by the time they're four or five but then we also see in the same school they may stay in school until their early 20s.   I've met a lot of students that are still there and what's a little different, from seems to be in at least my experiences in the places I've visited, is that there's not a hard like okay you turn 18 so you have to leave school.  These students are coming in at a later age. You may have an eight-year-old boy that's just starting school so he's he's got to start at the very beginning and they're not going to kick him out when he's 21.  They're going to allow him to stay until he's ready to go to the next phase.   We do have some that that they have some kind of skill that they're teaching the children.   Our partner of Mexico is excellent at that.   They have lots of different trades.  They will teach them sewing, mechanic work so that they need different types of things.   So that they can have a skill, so that they can have a job.   One of our partners in Kenya is very different.   It's called Lance's Deaf orphans.   We are the partner.  There was a man named Lance that started that orphanage but he was no longer able to do it and he was already one of our partners.   And what happened, we just took it over so we do manage that whole partner.   We are the partner.   When it comes to that one and there are levels.   There are some children that go on to high school and if they pass a certain test then they're able to go to secondary school.  So, it really just varies per child what their abilities are but from the most part what I see is that they're able to stay in school as long as they need to.   Unfortunately, sometimes there are students that will go to maybe eighth grade and then the families pull them out and want them to start working on their farm or want them to do something else.   So, we do have a lot of that.  Kidds that come and go.   So, if you sponsor a child at the age of 15, you started sponsoring they were 15 and they're 20. They could very well still be in school as long as they are still in school and being supported by that Ministry, we allow them to stay in the program.   

Crystal:
So, we're gonna wrap this up because we've been talking for a while.   What do you feel is the greatest need right now for these children?  

Ginger:  
One is sponsor a deaf child or a deaf teacher.   I think that's just the best way for that partner just to have the continuous support.   The second thing is that just to donate to Deaf Child Hope as an organization.   There are, as I said at the beginning,  there are 25 million deaf children and we are just reaching a handful right now.  We have around 250 children sponsored and about 23 teachers.   That's a drop in the bucket.   And so, to be able to reach more partners and um to even maybe start establishing some partners ourselves we've got to have more support, so we've got to expand our staff.  We've got to be able to have the resources to send We are a non-profit, it's not for profit but it does take money to be able to reach more children and so that's something that we're really wanting to do.   So, if you sponsor a deaf child and then if you just want to partner with Deaf Child Hope as an organization and there's lots of different ways that you can that you can do that.   And you can go on a mission trip.   We have five mission trips planned for this year.   Honduras being the first one coming up in March. We will also go to Jamaica, Kenya, Uganda, and Mexico.  Those are the five that we have that we have planned that are open to the public so you would like to join us in that you can always do that.   Usually the partners make a little money off of that as well.  That's something I don't think I mentioned so that helps them too.   When we when we take a trip.  You can follow us on social media.   We're on primarily on Facebook and Instagram and just interact with our post.   Just the more and if you know how the algorithm works the more you like and share things the more people see it the more people can look and share it so that just helps um get the word out about Deaf Child Hope.   There's also, if you shop on Amazon um there's Amazon smile but if you'll just go to Amazon smile and then connect your favorite charity with Amazon then every time you make a purchase a little bit will go.  So, Deaf Child Hope is a part of that so you can use this there.   And then you can volunteer in other ways.   We're always looking for more people to get involved and I know your audience is people that have you know an interest.   They're interested in in deafness and Deaf culture and so we're always looking for more people to volunteer or you know maybe even be a staff member.   So, um and reach out that way.   

Crystal: 
Yeah so, I think it's also great to mention when you and I talked before that you know you have deaf people as well as hearing people that are involved in this organization.   You said that there's a few deaf people that have gone on some of these mission trips and that children in these developing countries love to see successful deaf people.   I mean that's something that even in America our deaf children want to see successful deaf people to kind of have that role model of this is what I could be.  And so, you know the opportunity here is really for both hearing and deaf people to get involved.   As I said before I've sponsored a child for a while and for me, like I said, when I look at any deaf child and think this could be my kid and what would I want to do to make sure that that child has every opportunity.   Because if we want this world to be deaf friendly and needs to be deaf friendly for everybody not just for people in America right.   And so hopefully people can hear this and realize that there is such a great need.  How many children do you have right now that are not sponsored that are in your system.   

Ginger: 
That's a question that kind of changes on the daily as kids go in and out.   We probably, that are sitting in our system ready to go, I believe there's about 150 kids that right now are ready to be sponsored that are on the website and ready to go.   But again our goal is to put even more children to find even more partners.   And we actually are contacted by other ministries that are working with deaf children and some we have to turn them down because we don't have the staff to handle it.   We've only you know we can only do so much and so we are really wanting to expand.   And I also want to say that you don't have to know sign language to go on a mission trip.   Like you said I do know american sign language but sometimes that only takes me so far when I'm in another country and the the sign language is different.   But there's always someone there that will be able to help you communicate um so don't, don't let that scare you.   

 Ginger:  
So, I saw on your website, which I thought was a really cool idea that there are people that actually if they can't afford the $38 a month that they do it as a group.  So, there's clubs that will sponsor a group together um so it's just a couple dollars for each person and then they sponsor somebody together.  So that's another opportunity.   But you know 150 kids right now who are waiting, that in itself is a big number.   It's a drop in the bucket to the 25 million.   So, let me ask you this are they currently getting services and they're just limping along because they don't have the funds or are they being rejected from these partnerships because they're not sponsored?   

 Ginger: 
No, they are not being rejected.   I want to be transparent these children are already attending the ministry.   They are already a part, wherever they're living they're already a part of that ministry.   But you supporting them, number one that's a person that is what we hope deliberately covering them in prayer.   Your financial support is helping that ministry which can help them even more.   So, I don't want you to think that until they're sponsored they're just hanging out in isolation somewhere.  That that's not the case.  These are children that are already in the program.   But that being said we want to add even more children.  We want to find more ministries that are working hard to help children that are out there.  That are maybe not being served.    

Crystal:  
Well, I'm so glad that I was able to talk to you and hopefully people can take this and really think about it and decide whether you want to help and even if you don't I hope that everybody learned about what it's like for other kids.   Because like I said I think in America, sometimes we forget that there are so many people out there that don't live like us and there's so much work to be done.   So thank you so much for being here and I appreciate your time we will put the links of all of your info, your social media your pages, how to contact everybody.  We'll make sure we put that in the in the comments.  But thank you so much.   I appreciate you being here!    

Ginger:  
Thank you.  Thank you so much this has been fun  

Crystal: 
If you would like to learn more about Deaf Child Hope International or to learn how to sponsor a child, go to their web page deafchildhope.org.  That is D E A F C H I L D H O P E   DOT O R G.      You can also look for them on Facebook and Instagram- just search for Deaf Child Hope International.    The links are included in the podcast description.   

 If you're just tuning in for the first time to my podcast, I encourage you to go back and listen to some of my previous episodes from last season where we discuss an array of topics from all different perspectives.   Don't forget to like and subscribe to my channel and if you really like my podcast check out my Facebook and Instagram pages.  And of course, share with your friends.   Also check out my YouTube channel where I have the first 3 episode of the podcast interpreted into American Sign Language, and we'll be continuing to add more as time goes on.   Stay tuned for future episodes coming out, but until next time I'm signing off.