 |
| Students in a Special Class at Hilton. The teachers are an inspiration to their hearing impaired students as they share the same disability. |
We are happy to report that thanks to your support, Standss has had the privilege of again making a donation to the Hilton Special School. In this post I would like to share details of how the donation will be used and some of the truly inspiring work we witnessed when the Standss team visited the school last week.
The Hilton Special School is the main organization in Fiji that works with children with hearing and physical disabilities. This organization serves a very important and often neglected group of children in our community… and they have been doing it very well for many years.
The organization operates a school, an early intervention center, an audiology unit, a physiotherapy unit and a hostel.
While they get some government assistance, a lot of their work is only possible with the help of grants and donations.
Last year we donated $10,000 to them to assist with setting up a new physiotherapy unit. The physiotherapy unit has now been setup.
Last week we donated an additional $10,000 which will be used towards the salary of a qualified physiotherapist who will work with the children.
During our visit to the school, we were given a tour of the different classes that are currently being held. Some of the truly inspirational things that we learnt and witnessed included:
• The children are taught the exact same syllabus that are taught in all other schools in Fiji. The only difference here is the mode of learning as the children here need different attention because of hearing impairments or restricted mobility.
• The teachers of one class were both without hearing. They had benefited from the work that from organizations like Hilton in their youth, had gone through teacher training and were now inspiring and teaching other students that their disabilities did not have to hold them back.
• The Hilton School also had a computer lab. Krishneer Sen, the teacher and administrator of the lab was also a former Hilton student.
 |
| Krishneer Sen is a former student of Hilton who now teaches computing classes for their students. |
After Hilton, he went to a technical school in New Zealand and then won a scholarship to Gallaudet University which is the world’s only university designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students.
Krishneer is a source of inspiration for all of us. His life shows us what is possible with support and determination. He also shows the tremendous impact that organizations such as Hilton have , not only on individuals directly affected, but also on the lives of people that that these individuals will affect in turn.
I know that I may have overused the word but this visit by our team was truly inspiring for us.
It is too easy to forget that just having normal hearing, site and mobility is a privilege.
It is humbling to see the work that others are doing to empower these children to live full lives
.
We want to thank the team at Hilton for their service and for allowing us the opportunity to contribute.
And finally… we want to take this opportunity to thank all our customers.
We are only able to support Hilton and other similar organizations because of your continued support of our products and company.
We want you to know that you have are making a difference.
Sanjay and the team at Standss
