Link to source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/blogs/hearing-impaired-kids-brought-into-a-world-of-sound/585436
Hearing-Impaired Kids Brought Into a World of Sound
by Rulan Melvianie
For a mother, hearing her child’s first words is a monumental moment. What makes that moment even more emotionally poignant is when the child is also hearing her mother’s voice for the first time.
Born deaf, 4-year-old Bilqis Wijaya recently spoke her first words after receiving a cochlear implant. Her eyes lit up when she finally heard her mother’s voice.
“I had tears running down my face when I heard her say ‘mama’ and ‘papa’ for the first time,” said Hesitana Laksmi Wijaya Sari, Bilqis’s mother.
Bilqis received her hearing aid as part of “Switch On,” a joint program between Adaro Energy, the United Indonesian Cabinet Ministers’ Wives Club (Sikib), the Irreh Hearing Center and NorthStar, a private equity and venture capital firm.
The program has already given the gift of hearing to 13 children since February.
“Bilqis is a sweet, healthy and smart kid,” Hestiana said. “Everything was perfect until she was about 1 and a half years old. Bilqis was not like her brothers and sisters, who called us mama and papa. And whenever she spoke, her intonation wasn’t clear.”
At first Bilqis’s parents were confused, scared and angry. They blamed God and asked why it had to be their daughter who was deaf.
“We couldn’t imagine how she would interact with people, or how she would ever understand what anyone was saying,” Hesitana said.
When Bilqis’s father realized the enormity of the situation he took a few days off work, locked himself in a room, switched off all the lights and closed himself off from the world.
Perhaps, Hesitana says, he wanted to spend a few days in his daughter’s shoes, to know how it feels to be a child with hearing disability.
Meanwhile, Bilqis’s mother looked for an opportunity to change her daughter’s life.
“I encouraged myself to find a solution,” Hesitana said. “We don’t have a computer at home but through our neighbor’s Internet, we found out that a child with a hearing disability can be helped with a hearing aid. We started to try and think of a way to buy one, even though we knew it would be terribly expensive.”
Over the past year and a half, children from Jakarta, Depok and Bandung have been given the gift of hearing as part of the “Switch On” program, which funds hearing aid implants for children with congenital hearing loss, helping them escape from a silent world.
The idea for the program came about last October, when Sikib chairwoman Ratna Djoko Suyanto was brainstorming with the corporate social responsibility division of Adaro Energy about high-impact programs based on social innovation.
“Adaro, with the support of Sikib and the Gatot Subroto Army Hospital, has been dedicated to these less fortunate children throughout the entire process,” said Okty Damayanti, general manager of CSR Adaro, which has funded 4,900 cataract, cleft lip and palate operations since 2003.
“We realize this is a long process and we are dedicated to supporting the children and the family throughout the 55 therapy sessions that come before and after the implant,” Okty added.
It is not easy to get a cochlear implant. The selection process takes time and requires lengthy and thorough examinations from a team of otolaryngologists, neurologists, psychiatrists, anesthesiologists, pediatricians and radiologists.
Those eligible for the “Switch On” program are children aged between 18 months and 10 years old who suffer congenital deafness, or deafness since birth derived from the nervous system and not acquired via an infection or accident.
“One in 1,000 children are born with hearing disorders, [so] there are a lot of children out there who still need implants,” said Chairul Akmal, head of the otolaryngology department at RSPAD.
More importantly, the process requires cooperation from the parents to come on board for the journey, making time for the 55 therapy sessions needed.
Doctors can provide the framework for improvement, but it is the parents who spend most time with their children and can help them develop their new abilities.
What began as a dream for Hesitana and her family is now a reality thanks to “Switch On.”
“There are still so many other Indonesian kids with impaired hearing who have not been given access to either hearing aids or speech therapy,” said Ratna from Sikib.
“If no one helped, these kids would have a very complicated future. We’re very appreciative of the synergy that came about and we expect more companies to be inspired and follow Adaro’s steps to support kids with special needs so the number of kids saved and have a brighter future will be greater.”