Dandenong workers tucked into sweet treats to support deaf children in developing countries.
CHEP hosted a fund-raising bake sale on Thursday 14 September for Deaf Action.
The Pakenham-based organisation helps deaf people to gain the education and life skills they need to overcome their disability and live productive lives.
Beaconsfield man and Deaf Action founder and director Neville Muir said donations provided education, skills training and job opportunities to break the cycle of poverty and discrimination.
CHEF donated $1946 earlier this year towards Deaf Ministries International’s (DMI) College and
High School for the Deaf, based in Davao in the Philippines, including $746 from a staff bake sale.
That donation helped to upgrade kitchen and dining facilities at the Davao college, which is home to about 90 deaf students.
“Part of the donation enabled two Davao College teachers to travel to Australia to visit a number of schools for the deaf in Melbourne,” Mr Muir said.
“They hope to observe, gain ideas and also collect materials that will help them with their work in Davao, especially among the younger children.”
Mr Muir previously told the Journal that there was a widespread lack of understanding about deafness in developing countries.
“There have been so many remote areas that we visit where parents didn’t even know there was such a thing as another deaf child,” he said.
“You see lots of sad cases of kids being misunderstood and just becoming kitchen slaves.
“There are many parents who don’t know how to communicate with their own kids because they’ve never learnt sign language.
“It means that they often give up on trying to communicate with their families.”
Mr Muir’s involvement in the deaf community started when he took part in a school holiday church club in Echuca during 1965 and met a deaf boy.
“This boy became my inspiration for working with deaf children,” he said.
“I got hooked and deafness became a real fascination.
“I became involved with different aspects of the deaf world and trained to become a teacher for the deaf.”
Having worked at a university in Japan, Neville used his overseas connections to launch his own churches for the deaf in Inchon, Korea, starting with just four children in 1979.
Deaf Action has since expanded to education and employment transition programs and assists deaf children in 21 countries, some from kindergarten through to college.
It funds four schools in the Philippines, Myanmar and Kenya, and supports up to 18 schools worldwide.
