Melat Gets Her Hearing Back
How your support is transforming young lives.
SOS Children’s Villages believes that no child should grow up alone. Our first priority is to support families at risk to prevent family breakdown, so that children do not need alternative care. This is carried out through our Family Strengthening Program. In cases where a child cannot be cared for by their family of origin, we provide quality alternative family-based care in the form of Children’s Villages, where children grow up as part of an SOS family.
Melat* is one of the children that lives in the SOS Children’s Village in Harrar.
Melat Gets Her Hearing Back
Melat is now 13 years old. She was four when she first joined the Village. After some time, her SOS mother discovered that the little girl had a hearing problem. She took Melat to the medical centre and was told that, with surgery, Melat could have a chance to hear properly again. Unfortunately, the young girl would have to wait until she had grown a little bit older to have the procedure.
Over the years, Melat continued to struggle to hear at school, despite sitting in her seat at the front of the class. Sometimes, she would get so frustrated by this, that she would skip her lessons altogether.
Although things were difficult, Melat always had the support of her SOS mother and siblings. Her SOS sister Adi*, who was in the same class as Melat, helped her to fill in the gaps from the class discussions and lessons. For Melat, the support from her SOS mother was especially helpful, “she was very kind and understanding of my situation … she even came to school every time to talk to my teachers about my situation…so the teachers also became very supportive,” she says.
Melat waited until just recently to have the surgery to improve her hearing. The Village social worker accompanied Melat on her trip to the capital for her big day. Meanwhile, her friends and family in the Village anxiously awaited her safe return, and prayed for a successful surgery.
“I was so happy to finally hear that Melat got her hearing back. You can imagine the happiness in the Village when the children and families heard about the successful surgery,” her SOS mother says through her tears. “I have no words to express my happiness.”
Melat now hears her lessons in school with no difficulty. She no longer has to sit at the front to hear her teacher speak, but she still enjoys sitting at the front desk out of habit.
After the surgery, Melat remains very grateful to her families and friends for the support they gave her. She expresses her gratitude by helping others in the Village whenever she can.
*The names have been changed to protect the privacy of the children.