Sound Seekers is a UK-based charity that works to improve the lives of Deaf and hard of hearing children and adults in the developing world. They develop and support projects that improve access to education, lessen the impact of hearing loss and raise awareness of deaf people’s abilities and needs.
In Zambia, they are currently running a project which focuses on improving audiology facilities at the main Hospital in Ndola, Zambia’s second largest city. They are providing audiology training for several Zambian clinicians and technicians. They are also offering an outreach service, providing hearing tests, hearing aids and primary ear care (prevention of ear infections, etc.) to surrounding communities through the provision of the HARK! mobile clinic. Currently, there is only one audiologist for the whole of Zambia, approximately 13,881,336 people, whereas here, we have approximately one audiologist per 25,000 people.
I spent just three days with the charity out in Ndola, shadowing Emily Bell the Programme Manager. My time was mainly split between Ndola Hospital and Kansenshi Basic School. The school has a large deaf unit for children of all ages, and on that first day, they were being given hearing tests and hearing aids. It was also International Week for the Deaf the week we were out there; so at the school, they celebrated with sign songs and speeches from the head teacher, and the medical staff based out there.
The following day, there was a talk from a British ENT Doctor, Adonye Banigo to the ENT department (Ear, Nose and Throat) at Ndola Hospital. Then, in the afternoon, we had a small ceremony where the HARK! mobile clinic was presented to the hospital to enable them to start an outreach programme themselves, taking medical staff to more remote villages.