In countries where large portions of the population live on less than $2 per day, purchasing costly hearing aids is well beyond the means of most individuals. To address this need, HOPE International is partnering with the Starkey Hearing Foundation to help distribute hearing aids to over 1,000 impoverished individuals in Uganda and Rwanda. As part of this initiative, HOPE staff members Erika Roberts and Quenton Marty—joined by Adrian Peterson, Larry Fitzgerald, and over 20 other NFL stars representing Pros for Africa—have traveled to these countries to help distribute hearing aids. Below, Erika blogs about her first impressions from the trip.

HOPE staff member Erika Roberts helps fit a hearing aid

I started off this trip thinking that I would not have anything HOPE related to write about until we were actually fitting our Rwanda clients with hearing aids. However, after 8 days of helping to share the gift of hearing, I can say with confidence that the work of the Starkey Hearing Foundation and HOPE International are more similar than I thought. There have been many times after helping restore an adult’s hearing that I have asked how this new ability will aid their businesses and, essentially, their ability to generate income. One man told me that he is a fisherman, and now he will be able to hear other boats coming as well as make better deals with his customers. Another sweet older lady who came to the hearing mission with her sign language interpreter from church wanted to give me a gift after I fitted her hearing aids but did not have it with her. I found out that she makes beautiful bags. Continue Reading…

HOPE staff member, Katie Straight, reflects on meeting HOPE’s clients in Haiti.

One year after Haiti’s devastating earthquake, HOPE International’s Katie Straight travelled to the country to walk in solidarity with our clients and staff as they remembered the pain of January 12, 2010. She joins them in reflecting on the continued challenges and continued promise of what’s to come.

We woke up this morning and watched the sun slowly rise over the hills of Port-au-Prince onto the still-rubbled city below. On the anniversary of the devastating earthquake that shook Haiti one year ago, Port-au-Prince was relatively quiet. Mourners arose early to fill churches with song and prayer, while a great number of the city’s inhabitants stayed off the roads. As we twisted our way through the city, we passed a crowd of people gathered at the foot of the still-crumbled National Palace, listening to politicians speak through crackling loudspeakers about rebuilding Haiti. We drove past tent cities and through the epicenter of the earthquake, where destroyed buildings made somber memorials for the anniversary. For three hours we twisted our way along country roads en route to HOPE’s Savings and Credit Association (SCA) program in Cadiac, Haiti. Continue Reading…

HOPE staff member, Katie Straight, reflects on meeting HOPE’s clients in Haiti.

This morning we hopped in the truck bed of a tap-tap, the “taxi” of rural Haiti, to ride to the weekly market in neighboring Miragoane. What an incredible sight to see thousands of local vendors selling every imaginable item: fruit, rice, freshly butchered meats, fabric, livestock, sunglasses, and jeans. We had the opportunity to see a number of HOPE’s Savings and Credit Association (SCA) clients in the midst of their commerce, busily selling meat from livestock they raised or homemade bread or candies. They stopped to tell us about how they had used their savings to invest in their businesses and care for their families. Without exception they said that they were glad to be a part of the savings program because it has enabled them to have access to money at critical times when they would not have had it before. Continue Reading…