Community Development Center and Programs for Deaf Children of Payatas and their Families
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1. Mission statement (who we are, what we do, what we stand for and why we do it.)
The mission of My Children's House of Hope is to set up an accessible place for the at-risk, abandoned, and confused children in various places in Payatas, Quezon City, Philippines, providing them with the means to liberate themselves from poverty when they reach adulthood.
Purpose statement
The purpose of this project is to provide education and supportive services for underprivileged deaf children and their families living in Payatas, Quezon City and an accessible community development center where is piloted.
2. Brief list of our activities and how it will meet basic human needs.
The project of My Children's House of Hope is to provide interactive learning tutorials and remedial education to 20 mother-and-deaf-child pairs coming from Payatas, a depressed, urban-poor community the majority of whose residents make a living scavenging from the garbage dump nearby. The sign language training will enable the deaf child (6-15 years old) to communicate with his/her mother and, with her acting as interpreter, with the rest of the family and the community. Both will receive remedial education in basic literacy and numeracy to supplement what the child is being taught in Special Education (SPED) classes in the public elementary school in the community. This remedial education will enable the deaf child to accelerate his/her pace of learning, thus catching up in those areas where deaf children usually lag behind; the mother will be taught similar lessons to enable her to tutor her child at home and to monitor progress of the child in class. Home tutoring will reinforce the remedial education as well as create a closer bond between the mother and her deaf child.
In 2005, the participating mothers were organized into a community-based Parents Support Group of the Deaf called PASUGOD, whose members will give encouragement and support to one another.
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In addition, the mothers were given additional education in parenting and home care, health maintenance and disease prevention, proper nutrition, sign language and livelihood activities.
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So as to supplement the family income, the mothers were trained on jewelry craft making using Swarovski stones. To be closer to the public school where their children are studying, Bahaybata127 initially rented a house for them located at No. 399 Narra Street, Payatas B, Quezon City where they can work on their crafts and other activities while waiting for their children.
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Finally, because many of the Payatas children suffer from malnutrition due to poverty, the deaf children enrolled in this project were sponsored into physical development activities and will be regularly given highly nutritious food during the entire duration of their participation.
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3. Impact on the lives of deaf children and youth as well as with their mothers
We intend to build and furnish the Community Center in Payatas, Quezon City, where the project is piloted and hopefully become a continuing, sustainable program. This project will immensely impact the lives of deaf children and their respective mothers, all of whom reside in an economically depressed community. The deaf children will be able to communicate, through sign language, with their mothers and, through them, with the rest of the family and the external community. This ability to communicate will end the isolation that deaf children often experience due to the communication barrier created by their hearing disability. It will enable them to establish closer ties with the other members of their families. The remedial education to be received by both the deaf child and the mother will supplement formal classroom instruction given by Special Education (SPED) teachers in the public elementary schools in the community. It will enable the deaf child to accelerate his/her pace of learning and catch up in basic reading, writing, and arithmetic, areas where deaf children often lag behind. The remedial education given to the mother will enable her to tutor her deaf child at home, thus reinforcing the formal lessons taught at school and creating a closer bond between them. Supplemental education given to the mother will also enable her to become more sensitive to the unique needs of her deaf child, to build a supportive and harmonious family environment, to protect and preserve her family's health, and to augment the family income and manage the family's budget more carefully. The Family Support Group will extend the women's concern to bigger community instead of merely their own families. Finally, the feeding component of the program will enable the deaf child to improve his/her state of health.
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4. Expected long term changes
We expect a profound long-term change in the status of the families of the participants who will be involved in this project. The improvement in the communication between the deaf child and his/her family will contribute to more cohesive and mutually supportive family relationships, as opposed to the often dysfunctional relationships caused by breakdown of communications. The acceleration of the learning process by deaf children, as reinforced by their own mothers tutoring them at home, will build a stronger educational foundation that will become the basis for their development of employable skills, positive work values, and human relationship abilities when they become adults-qualities that will help them find productive and dignified work despite their hearing disability. They will thus become self-supporting and productive instead of remaining totally dependent on the charity of others. Educating the mothers, on the other hand, will enable them to become better parents and to contribute in a very positive and meaningful way to the improvement of their families' health, economic, and psychological condition. Their self-esteem will expectedly improve.
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5. How will the program continue
The program will continue through sponsorship of the operating expenses by donors, which can include commercial firms, local government units (such as the Quezon City government), philanthropic organizations, and national government agencies. For example, we will approach firms that supply food or nutritional supplements to sponsor the feeding program in exchange for the right to feature it in their advertising. The Quezon City government can be requested to collaborate with the Department of Education to support the sign language tutorial and remedial education components, including the training of SPED teachers in the development of more deaf-friendly instructional methods and materials. The Department of Health can be tapped to give the supplemental education to the participating mothers about health, nutrition, and sanitation management.
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For the pilot batch of 20 mother-and-deaf-child pairs, there will be a detailed implementation plan with each activity having a responsible person, a target completion date, and a measurable or verifiable indicator of success. On the target completion date of each activity, a Steering Committee composed of representatives from both parent's representatives and My Children's House of Hope, plus representatives from key stakeholders, will review progress against the plans. Explanations will be required for any deviations or delays. There will also be a detailed budget; The Steering Committee will also review monthly the project's expenditures against this budget, with explanations being required for all variances. All expenditures will be properly documented to create traceability and accountability.
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