ESI Technologies Group is proud to be a donor to the Ethiopia Deaf Project (EDP) who work in partnership with the Ambo Lazarist Deaf School to improve the quality of life of deaf children in rural communities in Ethiopia.
EDP achieve this through their commitment to fund a school that enables deaf children access through Sign Language and total communication, to achieve their full potential in education. Their fundraising activities and in particular their child sponsorship program has facilitated the building and development of a school that is radically transforming the lives and future expectations of the deaf children who attend.
EDP Ireland believes that every child has a right to education, respect, freedom and the right to reach their full potential as human beings.
It is Because of Children Like this that I Volunteer with EDP!
When I met Chaltu, she and her father had travelled 120km to visit the Deaf school. Her father stood up in front of the whole school and told us that it broke his heart to see his other children go to school, but the school would not accept his daughter. He explained that neighbours treated his Cattle better than His daughter. Everyone was telling him that she could not learn, but he knew she was bright, he just wants her to have the same chance as every other child, so he could not believe it when someone told him about the school in Ambo. He immediately took a bus to come and beg for a place for her.
I could not believe I was sitting in the room at the same time that this wonderful father and his precious child had come to Ambo. The staff in the school had told me this is the reality for so many Deaf children, they are excluded, seen as cursed and have no language and often don’t even know their own name.
While it broke my heart to hear tell us about Chaltu’s situation it also confirmed why it is that I volunteer with EDP. In that moment I saw very clearly that our work and the funds we raise is the difference between this child standing in front of me getting a chance to go to school and to grow and develop like any other child or to be left in the countryside, alone, lonely, and isolated, with no ability to communicate. What choice do I have? Since then, I have worked harder. If that father can stand in front of a whole school and beg for a place for his daughter, surely, I can beg for the funds to ensure any such child has this life transforming experience.
Chaltu is now 16yrs of age, she is one of the leaders in the school, she is forever grateful for the opportunity to come to the school, to have a language that she can express herself with, to have friends who are closer than family, to have hopes and dreams like any other young person. She represents so many of the children who come to the school from rural districts,
I feel so lucky to be involved and so grateful to everyone who helps support our efforts. Thank you.
If you would like to donate to this worthy cause click here: https://www.edp-ambo.com/donate/