We all have our beliefs on how to change the world and I would like to explore your thoughts. Rabbi Akiva thought that if you change one person, you have changed the world. Buddha preached that by changing yourself, the world will change. Tonight is my one year wedding anniversary. So, with all due respect to Rabbi Akiva and Buddha, I say marry a woman who has 2 teenage daughters and your world will change.
I am a Fellow working on solar powered hearing aid project where all employees are youths who are deaf .I believe that by creating new technologies we can create employment opportunities. Earning a living gives someone a feeling of self-worth and gives them a reason to stay healthy. My wife is convinced that the wealth of a nation will change only through educational programs. Eliminate HIV in Africa and the wealth of Africa will not improve. Educate that children and watch out!! Tonight, I was watching the BBC program Hardtalk, where they interviewed a famous British director and he mentioned that you can change the world by exposing children to culture. Sophocles said; " One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: that word is love.
Your posting is so touching and inspirational. In an age of extensive media exposure and gloabl access to information (that can sometimes frankly be quite overwhelming!) your words are a calm reminder that we can start small and start with ourselves. Taking that first step is key in dodging that sense of powerlessness.
It seems like you've taken so many of those first steps and that more recently you've been doing great work in Brazil. I'm wondering if you are also looking to distribute your solar powered hearing aid or model to other countries?
Although their focus is on intervention and rehabilitation, they also recommend the use of hearing aids to these kids after proper testing. As poverty is quite wide spread throughout India, your cost-effective innovation could probably really fill that gap for many. Any plans for spreading some of your change to other parts of the globe?
Thanks Liz for your kind words. The need for affordable hearing aids AND rechargeable batteries is so large, estimated to be over 300,000,000 people and supply so small, only 8 million a year sold, mainly to people who can afford $1,000- $15,000, that more affordable hearing places , serving the mass market is desperately needed.
Yes, we are helping and will continue to help NGO's, open other affordable hearing programs. We will give the technology, sources of supply, business plans, ideas for sourcing of money, anything and everything... for free. We are helping set up competitors to ousleves and want nothing in return other than we all purchase together, enjoy economies of scale and therefore ,all of our costs decrease.
The only requirement we want from an NGO is
1) Be involved at some level with people who are hearing impaired
2) Invest atleast $60,000US and another $40,000 of in kind contribution to support whatever grant they will get. I have found that if an NGO receives 100% of the required money, they are not fully invested at any level.
3) Hire, train, educate, empower people with disabilities.
4) Run as a sustainable professional business.
5) Include some sort of educational or empowerment program for employees or have an inclusion program
The next two locations we are helping are in Palestine and Mexico. The Palestine project is very interesting as the NGO, will be hiring youths who are deaf from Palestine, Jordan and Israel. As you can see we will have a peace building component. We hope the world will hear about peace through the efforts of youths who are deaf.
It sounds like you have a really solid rollout & support system in place! Many I ask how many NGOs are active with this replication?
Your poetic vision for the world hearing about peace through the efforts of deaf youth really struck me.
And, by the way, there's another Ashoka related group that may be of interest to you - they're called "Kissing the Tiger: The Role of Social Entrepreneurship in Building Peace and Cultural Tolerance".
The group focusses on the "role that social entrepreneurship can play in preventing violence, building peace and strengthening tolerance and empathy around the world." I believe they may also be starting a related blog soon.
I have been spit upon ( spat upon?) by a camel in Afghanistan, slept next to a pride of lions in the Kalahari desert, and would gladly have exchanged both experiences to be " kissed by a tiger." I would love to hear more about this peace building conference as I will be meeting the Prime Minster of Palestine next month and I would love his ideas about this subject.
With respect to replicating our program, we are actively working with 5 NGO's and 3 International organizations. These NGO's are located in Palestine, Mexico,Vietnam, Pakistan and China. We are also talking to Project Impact trying to help them in Kenya and India. Lions International and World Health Organization has both recently requested some information as they would like to possibly open 2 or 3 affordable hearing aid programs per year for next 5 years.
Any Fellows who would like information on our activities, outcome and impacts as well as an business plan outlines please let me know.
We are also working on and have received funding to start 3 sustainable businesses, Photography, soap making from recycled household oil and decorative paper using garbage for 60 youths in a favela outside of Rio. In addition with another Ashoka fellow we hope to start a hydro-ponics slow food program with a women's rural agricultural association in rural Brazil.
People with disabilities, especially women, represent one of the most marginalized groups in society, where opportunities to express their views and concerns are often restricted. People with special needs encounter widespread difficulties in entering the market. Problems begin at school, when people with disabilities have difficulty preparing for the work market because of various factors, including prejudice, discrimination by classmates and teachers, plus many lacking basic communication skills, such as children who are hard of hearing. Without the skills to compete in a profession, they're denied a fair chance of getting hired. Aggravating this problem is a lack of awareness by society of their potential, the lack of skilled workers and misinformation among potential employers. This is the scenario people with disabilities face on a daily basis throughout most developing countries. Through the development of new technologies, one can create technical jobs, a sustainable enterprise, for people who have a disability as we have done by manufacturing a digital rechargeable hearing aid, a solar charger, and rechargeable hearing aid batteries which cost the same a regular battery but last 2-3 years. By investing in women with a disability, plus equipment, training and educational programs, the revenues from this sustainable project will initially create employment for 12 women. The outcomes will be more people living independently, given their incomes. The impact will demonstrate to society that people with a disability can ably work and further set an example for other companies to confidently hire people with a disability. This in turn will have a multiplier effect which will enable the regional economy to grow. Finally we will scale and replicate our independent living program through the networks of Ashoka Fellows. Our project will ultimately help the less advantaged children in the region get low cost hearing aids, which will enable those children to be mainstreamed in local schools. There are very few schools for the deaf in Middle- East. Article 26 of UN Charter on Human Rights, states "everyone has the right to education." This project aims to give the hearing impaired or deaf child improved access to education. .Our program, as one can see, has many cross cutting themes, with the Foundation starting with technology, but building on the themes of health, education, environment, human rights, inclusion and empowerment.
Here are my keys to being a successful Fellow. I would love to know yours.
10) Have a sense of humor
9) Be stubborn and stupid
8) Know what you do not know
7) It is all about giving love
6) The project is not about YOU
5) Sports is the international language of business
4) Ensure your family is involved
3) Give credit all the time to others and in public, but criticize in private
2) The word " no" means "no for now," it does not mean eat sh*t and die
1) When you get sh*t from others, even though you feel you don't deserve it, learn not only to take the sh*t but more important learn to enjoy the taste.
I quite enjoyed your top 10 list. You offer an honest dose of insight as well as a realistic/humourous outlook for approaching the difficulties one may encounter along the way. Both of which will surely stick in my mind through future endeavors.
If I could add a few cents...
11. Find yourself thinking, eating, stepping, living, 'outside of the box.' always.
12. In any great undertaking, it is not enough for a man to simply depend on himself.
13. Learn how to give up selfishness
I look forward to reading more of your posts. It's not everyday I find life lessons, a chance to learn about cross-cutting social enterprises, and humorous insight all rolled into one. Thank you!
First of all you have a beautiful name and would love to know the story behind it.
11) Yes I am sure when you think out of the box, people often think you are out of your mind.... to bad for them.. You go girl!!!!!
12) Men cannot depend on himself, we need women to make sense of life. ( smile)
In any project I have worked on and in every speech I have given, I talk about how useless it is to do a project with a focus on men. Men are generally pigs. A project which helps women will eventually have a larger impact. Empowering women will in turn empower their children. Empower a man and his bartender will be wealthier. Men are useless !!!!!! I am VERY serious.
13) The Buddhist have a great exercise in teaching us to be less selfish. They say take a coin and pass it to yourself. The act of giving will become part of oneself.
I've enjoyed your posts and appreciate you taking the time to host this conversation. Your comments on the cross cutting theme of people with disabilities reminded me of a talk I recently heard by Caroline Casey, an an Ashoka Fellow who is transforming attitudes about people with disabilities in Ireland and beyond via her organization Kanchi. Her main strategies have been to work with businesses to show them that they are overlooking a huge potential source of human capital, and that hiring people with disabilities can be a real asset to an organization's bottom line when employees are given the tools they need to reach their potential. Like you, Casey is emphasizing the power of meaningful employment in improving lives. The split, as I see it, is that she is working with populations and organizations who can, for the most part, afford the tools they need, where as you are helping make those tools available to the other 90% of the world. Progress needs to be done on many fronts. Keep up the good work!
First of all, Caroline promised to teach me to dance and I look forward to meeting this wonderful person and learn more about her great truly great work.
I think it was George Washington Carver who said. Don't judge a man by the heights he has achieved but from the depths which he has rise from. I was very fortunate in my life to have grown up in an upper middle class 2 parent family in Montreal. The success I have achieved pales against those of the community members I have had the privilege to work with and love. Ryan do you have time for a quick story.
Fifteen years ago, my 10 year old daughter Sarah suddenly died. I was lost, lived in a fog for many years. So, I decided to go to Africa to help women earn an income so that they would have money to buy medication for their children. I did not want another parent to suffer like I did. So a few years later, I sold everything I had and moved as a volunteer to Otse in rural Botswana. I went to help open the first affordable hearing project with a local counterpart Modesta. We had no money, no products, no tools, equipment, no people. Imagine my reaction on my very first day at the NGO where I worked when a teacher from the local School for the Deaf, knocked on our door. With her was a young girl, about 17 years old, with the smile of an angel. She introduced me to this girl, who’s hearing aid was broken. Her name was Sarah. She asked me what I could do to repair or replace Sarah’s hearing aid. I wanted to tell Sarah that I understood her aid was broken but she just broke my heart . Instead, I sadly had to tell them that Sarah would remain deaf until I found a replacement and solution. BUT « trust me I WOULD FIND A SOLUTION. » Fast forward 9 months. We received funding for our rechargeable hearing aid project. We tested, selected and hired kids from the local schools for the deaf in Botswana. One of the students we hired was Sarah. When she filled out her work application form, I found out she had the same birthday and year and my daughter. I was so fortunate to have great mentors in Botswana, being the deaf workers. It was such an inspiring opportunity to see these young adults who could not finish high school, as high school for deaf in Botswana ended in grade 9, help start this sustainable NGO. In the time I was there, they help invent 3 products, became certified aviation micro-solder teachers, studied in Canada, taught sign language to bank tellers, showed their skills to Governors, Ambassadors and Presidents, authored the first HIV- AIDs sign language dictionary. Some of them are now with me in Brazil, from their dusty village in Botswana to teach the deaf in Sao Paulo how to assemble a digital rechargeable hearing aid and solar charger. Deaf to deaf training. I can’t wait to see what the workers who are deaf in Brazil will accomplish!!! Our program in Brazil is not only for the Sarah’s who will work at Solar Ear but also for the Sarah’s of the world who will receive a hearing aid Our project and people believes that yesterday’s dream, is the hope of today and can become the reality of tomorrow. I went to Africa to give meaning to my daughters death, but in fact it gave meaning to my life.
f you go to this link http://www.solarear.com.br/solar/filmes.php you will see Sarah who signs in Botswana sign language teaching youths who are deaf from Brazil . Wonderful . I am inspired by the Sarah's on this planet, everyday.
My grandfather told me that he runs out of hearing aid batteries every week!!! He has hearing aids in both his ears, so you can imagine how expensive it must get. Not to mention inconvenient.
I've been meaning to give your solar-power hearing aid kit for him as a gift but dont know where to purchase it from. What is the best way to get a hold of your product?
Your work and philosophical vision are both truly inspiring. Thank you for sharing your insights.
Working with communities to develop affordable healthcare, particularly in developing countries or lower income communities is critical in creating sustainable and effective healthcare systems. I think your emphasis on sustainable or social businesses, green technology and the educational/empowerment programs fuses your health and community development focus beautifully.
I’m reminded of another entrant who is working with rural and low-income communities to develop eye health care and reading glasses. Learn more here: http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/node/1249.
Your comment on an upcoming project in Palestine, working with deaf youths from Palestine, Jordan and Israel is fascinating. Can you discuss more how you see this project as a peace building tool? I imagine that bringing the youths together to work together and share their experiences will create a very cohesive and unique bond. Is there anyway you can encourage them to expand these learnings to those outside of the deaf community?
Thank you again for being so open on your projects, vision, and principles. I look forward to learning more about your projects and work.
Thanks for the information on Vision Spring. I love their business model and have been in contact with them. We may be their distributor in Brazil combining our low cost hearing aid program with their low cost eye wear one. I know very little about micro-finance but feel I can adapt some of their strategy to our program for the benefit of all. Vision Spring people, I have found to also be very flexible with their model. I have asked them if instead of receiving the low cost glasses from China, if I could do some final assembly of the product here in Brazil. In doing so, I would be able to hire more people who have a disability. They were very open to this suggestion and discussions continue.
Thank you for your great question about peace building. I have been volunteering my help to a Canadian NGO CISEPO ( www.cisepo.ca) who have been involved in peace building through health initiatives in the Middle- East for about 20 years. So the effort and foundation to peacebuilding through partnerships with organizations and people from Israel, Jordan and Palestine has already been put in place. We used some of these partners to help contribute money and in-kind contribution to help start this next affordable hearing project. So our hope and thoughts are outside groups working towards peacebuilding, the workers who have a disability working together, then the final part will be an inclusion program when these workers go out to train and educate others in Israel, Jordan and Palestine. We are also working with a great Ashoka group in Palestine, Stars of Hope Society. I will be going to Palestine in a couple of weeks and have been invited by the Prime Minister of Palestine, to discuss with him our project AND Ashoka. He knows about both organizations. I have a gift from Ashoka to give to him.
You are right Paula, hearing aid batteries are a bigger problem than affordable hearing aids. The problem with batteries is that a normal zinc one used in 99.9% of all hearing aids lasts about a week and costs about $1.50US. Our battery which also cost $1.50 lasts 2-3 years.
The other problem with batteries in developing countries is not only the cost of the batteries but also the accessibility. Too often , well meaning charitable organizations gives out 100's of thousands of hearing aids, but only 1 battery. Yep, one week later the hearing aid sits in the child's drawer never used again.
You also have to ask yourself, how could a small NGO in rural Botswana develop the first rechargeable hearing aid battery and make lots money, and the big companies, eg Ray O VAC, Panasonic, EverReady could not. Simple answer, they do not wish to do so as it is not profitable. They would rather sell 200,000,000 zinc batteries every year versus a fraction of that amount.
In the short term Paula you can email me at howard@solarear.com.br and I will tell you how to buy it. In about a month we will have a PayPal system set up on our web site ( in English) www.solarear.com.br and we can ship anywhere in the world.
In a few more years we will have 25 affordable hearing aid places open, around the world. Maybe in less than a year , you will have one in USA where you can buy from. I will be working with the USA National Institutes of Health next month as they want to know how we replicate our disruptive business model in USA. Being Canadian we are more than happy to stir some sh*t in USA.... it's part of our limited culture.
I've never thought about the battery issue when it comes to giving out hearing aids to people in developing countries. That's really just something that I take for granted. However, obviously in places where you can't just run down to your local grocery store to pick them up, this is certainly a major challenge to have to get across.
Great question! Off the top of my head and heart, I would want the gravestone to read that I found peace and purpose on this earth, despite the craziness of it all.
If that didn't fit then, just a recycle symbol would suffice... of course mother nature's recyclers wouldn't need any prompts or permission to move in ;)
Now all I have to do is have my imaginary epitaph guide my real life. No small feat but thanks for the reminder!
We just wanted to congratulate Howard on being selected as a 2009 Tech Awards Laureate!
"The Tech Awards: Technology benefiting humanity, presented by Applied Materials, Inc., is one of the premier annual humanitarian awards programs in the world, recognizing technical solutions that address the most critical issues facing our planet and its people. The program honors 15 global innovators (Laureates) who are applying technology to benefit humanity in five universal categories...
Solar Ear, Howard Weinstein (Botswana, Brazil): Standard Western hearing aids cost an average of $750, with battery costs typically $1 per week. Solar Ear, an inexpensive hearing aid, suited to local conditions and manufactured by deaf workers who train one-another, costs $100 and is paired with a solar recharging unit for the batteries"
Comments
We all have our beliefs on how to change the world and I would like to explore your thoughts. Rabbi Akiva thought that if you change one person, you have changed the world. Buddha preached that by changing yourself, the world will change. Tonight is my one year wedding anniversary. So, with all due respect to Rabbi Akiva and Buddha, I say marry a woman who has 2 teenage daughters and your world will change.
I am a Fellow working on solar powered hearing aid project where all employees are youths who are deaf .I believe that by creating new technologies we can create employment opportunities. Earning a living gives someone a feeling of self-worth and gives them a reason to stay healthy. My wife is convinced that the wealth of a nation will change only through educational programs. Eliminate HIV in Africa and the wealth of Africa will not improve. Educate that children and watch out!! Tonight, I was watching the BBC program Hardtalk, where they interviewed a famous British director and he mentioned that you can change the world by exposing children to culture. Sophocles said; " One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: that word is love.
What do you think?
http://www.newsweek.com/id/135381 ,
http://pcastilloashoka.webng.com/HowardWeinstein/
Howard,
Your posting is so touching and inspirational. In an age of extensive media exposure and gloabl access to information (that can sometimes frankly be quite overwhelming!) your words are a calm reminder that we can start small and start with ourselves. Taking that first step is key in dodging that sense of powerlessness.
It seems like you've taken so many of those first steps and that more recently you've been doing great work in Brazil. I'm wondering if you are also looking to distribute your solar powered hearing aid or model to other countries?
One of our recent Designing for Better Health competition entries that focusses on hearing impaired children comes to mind (http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/node/21123).
Although their focus is on intervention and rehabilitation, they also recommend the use of hearing aids to these kids after proper testing. As poverty is quite wide spread throughout India, your cost-effective innovation could probably really fill that gap for many. Any plans for spreading some of your change to other parts of the globe?
Wishing you a very happy anniversary,
Liz
Thanks Liz for your kind words. The need for affordable hearing aids AND rechargeable batteries is so large, estimated to be over 300,000,000 people and supply so small, only 8 million a year sold, mainly to people who can afford $1,000- $15,000, that more affordable hearing places , serving the mass market is desperately needed.
Yes, we are helping and will continue to help NGO's, open other affordable hearing programs. We will give the technology, sources of supply, business plans, ideas for sourcing of money, anything and everything... for free. We are helping set up competitors to ousleves and want nothing in return other than we all purchase together, enjoy economies of scale and therefore ,all of our costs decrease.
The only requirement we want from an NGO is
1) Be involved at some level with people who are hearing impaired
2) Invest atleast $60,000US and another $40,000 of in kind contribution to support whatever grant they will get. I have found that if an NGO receives 100% of the required money, they are not fully invested at any level.
3) Hire, train, educate, empower people with disabilities.
4) Run as a sustainable professional business.
5) Include some sort of educational or empowerment program for employees or have an inclusion program
The next two locations we are helping are in Palestine and Mexico. The Palestine project is very interesting as the NGO, will be hiring youths who are deaf from Palestine, Jordan and Israel. As you can see we will have a peace building component. We hope the world will hear about peace through the efforts of youths who are deaf.
It sounds like you have a really solid rollout & support system in place! Many I ask how many NGOs are active with this replication?
Your poetic vision for the world hearing about peace through the efforts of deaf youth really struck me.
And, by the way, there's another Ashoka related group that may be of interest to you - they're called "Kissing the Tiger: The Role of Social Entrepreneurship in Building Peace and Cultural Tolerance".
The group focusses on the "role that social entrepreneurship can play in preventing violence, building peace and strengthening tolerance and empathy around the world." I believe they may also be starting a related blog soon.
If you're interested, you can connect with them at: http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/node/52435
Dear Elizabeth
I have been spit upon ( spat upon?) by a camel in Afghanistan, slept next to a pride of lions in the Kalahari desert, and would gladly have exchanged both experiences to be " kissed by a tiger." I would love to hear more about this peace building conference as I will be meeting the Prime Minster of Palestine next month and I would love his ideas about this subject.
With respect to replicating our program, we are actively working with 5 NGO's and 3 International organizations. These NGO's are located in Palestine, Mexico,Vietnam, Pakistan and China. We are also talking to Project Impact trying to help them in Kenya and India. Lions International and World Health Organization has both recently requested some information as they would like to possibly open 2 or 3 affordable hearing aid programs per year for next 5 years.
Any Fellows who would like information on our activities, outcome and impacts as well as an business plan outlines please let me know.
We are also working on and have received funding to start 3 sustainable businesses, Photography, soap making from recycled household oil and decorative paper using garbage for 60 youths in a favela outside of Rio. In addition with another Ashoka fellow we hope to start a hydro-ponics slow food program with a women's rural agricultural association in rural Brazil.
People with disabilities, especially women, represent one of the most marginalized groups in society, where opportunities to express their views and concerns are often restricted. People with special needs encounter widespread difficulties in entering the market. Problems begin at school, when people with disabilities have difficulty preparing for the work market because of various factors, including prejudice, discrimination by classmates and teachers, plus many lacking basic communication skills, such as children who are hard of hearing. Without the skills to compete in a profession, they're denied a fair chance of getting hired. Aggravating this problem is a lack of awareness by society of their potential, the lack of skilled workers and misinformation among potential employers. This is the scenario people with disabilities face on a daily basis throughout most developing countries. Through the development of new technologies, one can create technical jobs, a sustainable enterprise, for people who have a disability as we have done by manufacturing a digital rechargeable hearing aid, a solar charger, and rechargeable hearing aid batteries which cost the same a regular battery but last 2-3 years. By investing in women with a disability, plus equipment, training and educational programs, the revenues from this sustainable project will initially create employment for 12 women. The outcomes will be more people living independently, given their incomes. The impact will demonstrate to society that people with a disability can ably work and further set an example for other companies to confidently hire people with a disability. This in turn will have a multiplier effect which will enable the regional economy to grow. Finally we will scale and replicate our independent living program through the networks of Ashoka Fellows. Our project will ultimately help the less advantaged children in the region get low cost hearing aids, which will enable those children to be mainstreamed in local schools. There are very few schools for the deaf in Middle- East. Article 26 of UN Charter on Human Rights, states "everyone has the right to education." This project aims to give the hearing impaired or deaf child improved access to education. .Our program, as one can see, has many cross cutting themes, with the Foundation starting with technology, but building on the themes of health, education, environment, human rights, inclusion and empowerment.
Here are my keys to being a successful Fellow. I would love to know yours.
10) Have a sense of humor
9) Be stubborn and stupid
8) Know what you do not know
7) It is all about giving love
6) The project is not about YOU
5) Sports is the international language of business
4) Ensure your family is involved
3) Give credit all the time to others and in public, but criticize in private
2) The word " no" means "no for now," it does not mean eat sh*t and die
1) When you get sh*t from others, even though you feel you don't deserve it, learn not only to take the sh*t but more important learn to enjoy the taste.
Hi Howard,
I quite enjoyed your top 10 list. You offer an honest dose of insight as well as a realistic/humourous outlook for approaching the difficulties one may encounter along the way. Both of which will surely stick in my mind through future endeavors.
If I could add a few cents...
11. Find yourself thinking, eating, stepping, living, 'outside of the box.' always.
12. In any great undertaking, it is not enough for a man to simply depend on himself.
13. Learn how to give up selfishness
I look forward to reading more of your posts. It's not everyday I find life lessons, a chance to learn about cross-cutting social enterprises, and humorous insight all rolled into one. Thank you!
Kindly,
Kaylena
Dear Kaylena
First of all you have a beautiful name and would love to know the story behind it.
11) Yes I am sure when you think out of the box, people often think you are out of your mind.... to bad for them.. You go girl!!!!!
12) Men cannot depend on himself, we need women to make sense of life. ( smile)
In any project I have worked on and in every speech I have given, I talk about how useless it is to do a project with a focus on men. Men are generally pigs. A project which helps women will eventually have a larger impact. Empowering women will in turn empower their children. Empower a man and his bartender will be wealthier. Men are useless !!!!!! I am VERY serious.
13) The Buddhist have a great exercise in teaching us to be less selfish. They say take a coin and pass it to yourself. The act of giving will become part of oneself.
I would love to expand our top 10 list.
um abraço ( hug from Brazil)
Howard
Dear Howard,
I've enjoyed your posts and appreciate you taking the time to host this conversation. Your comments on the cross cutting theme of people with disabilities reminded me of a talk I recently heard by Caroline Casey, an an Ashoka Fellow who is transforming attitudes about people with disabilities in Ireland and beyond via her organization Kanchi. Her main strategies have been to work with businesses to show them that they are overlooking a huge potential source of human capital, and that hiring people with disabilities can be a real asset to an organization's bottom line when employees are given the tools they need to reach their potential. Like you, Casey is emphasizing the power of meaningful employment in improving lives. The split, as I see it, is that she is working with populations and organizations who can, for the most part, afford the tools they need, where as you are helping make those tools available to the other 90% of the world. Progress needs to be done on many fronts. Keep up the good work!
--
Ryan
tech.ashoka.org
Dear Ryan
First of all, Caroline promised to teach me to dance and I look forward to meeting this wonderful person and learn more about her great truly great work.
I think it was George Washington Carver who said. Don't judge a man by the heights he has achieved but from the depths which he has rise from. I was very fortunate in my life to have grown up in an upper middle class 2 parent family in Montreal. The success I have achieved pales against those of the community members I have had the privilege to work with and love. Ryan do you have time for a quick story.
Fifteen years ago, my 10 year old daughter Sarah suddenly died. I was lost, lived in a fog for many years. So, I decided to go to Africa to help women earn an income so that they would have money to buy medication for their children. I did not want another parent to suffer like I did. So a few years later, I sold everything I had and moved as a volunteer to Otse in rural Botswana. I went to help open the first affordable hearing project with a local counterpart Modesta. We had no money, no products, no tools, equipment, no people. Imagine my reaction on my very first day at the NGO where I worked when a teacher from the local School for the Deaf, knocked on our door. With her was a young girl, about 17 years old, with the smile of an angel. She introduced me to this girl, who’s hearing aid was broken. Her name was Sarah. She asked me what I could do to repair or replace Sarah’s hearing aid. I wanted to tell Sarah that I understood her aid was broken but she just broke my heart . Instead, I sadly had to tell them that Sarah would remain deaf until I found a replacement and solution. BUT « trust me I WOULD FIND A SOLUTION. » Fast forward 9 months. We received funding for our rechargeable hearing aid project. We tested, selected and hired kids from the local schools for the deaf in Botswana. One of the students we hired was Sarah. When she filled out her work application form, I found out she had the same birthday and year and my daughter. I was so fortunate to have great mentors in Botswana, being the deaf workers. It was such an inspiring opportunity to see these young adults who could not finish high school, as high school for deaf in Botswana ended in grade 9, help start this sustainable NGO. In the time I was there, they help invent 3 products, became certified aviation micro-solder teachers, studied in Canada, taught sign language to bank tellers, showed their skills to Governors, Ambassadors and Presidents, authored the first HIV- AIDs sign language dictionary. Some of them are now with me in Brazil, from their dusty village in Botswana to teach the deaf in Sao Paulo how to assemble a digital rechargeable hearing aid and solar charger. Deaf to deaf training. I can’t wait to see what the workers who are deaf in Brazil will accomplish!!! Our program in Brazil is not only for the Sarah’s who will work at Solar Ear but also for the Sarah’s of the world who will receive a hearing aid Our project and people believes that yesterday’s dream, is the hope of today and can become the reality of tomorrow. I went to Africa to give meaning to my daughters death, but in fact it gave meaning to my life.
f you go to this link http://www.solarear.com.br/solar/filmes.php you will see Sarah who signs in Botswana sign language teaching youths who are deaf from Brazil . Wonderful . I am inspired by the Sarah's on this planet, everyday.
Howard,
My grandfather told me that he runs out of hearing aid batteries every week!!! He has hearing aids in both his ears, so you can imagine how expensive it must get. Not to mention inconvenient.
I've been meaning to give your solar-power hearing aid kit for him as a gift but dont know where to purchase it from. What is the best way to get a hold of your product?
Thank you!
Paula
Dear Howard,
Your work and philosophical vision are both truly inspiring. Thank you for sharing your insights.
Working with communities to develop affordable healthcare, particularly in developing countries or lower income communities is critical in creating sustainable and effective healthcare systems. I think your emphasis on sustainable or social businesses, green technology and the educational/empowerment programs fuses your health and community development focus beautifully.
I’m reminded of another entrant who is working with rural and low-income communities to develop eye health care and reading glasses. Learn more here: http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/node/1249.
Your comment on an upcoming project in Palestine, working with deaf youths from Palestine, Jordan and Israel is fascinating. Can you discuss more how you see this project as a peace building tool? I imagine that bringing the youths together to work together and share their experiences will create a very cohesive and unique bond. Is there anyway you can encourage them to expand these learnings to those outside of the deaf community?
Thank you again for being so open on your projects, vision, and principles. I look forward to learning more about your projects and work.
All the best,
Katica
Hi Katica
Thanks for the information on Vision Spring. I love their business model and have been in contact with them. We may be their distributor in Brazil combining our low cost hearing aid program with their low cost eye wear one. I know very little about micro-finance but feel I can adapt some of their strategy to our program for the benefit of all. Vision Spring people, I have found to also be very flexible with their model. I have asked them if instead of receiving the low cost glasses from China, if I could do some final assembly of the product here in Brazil. In doing so, I would be able to hire more people who have a disability. They were very open to this suggestion and discussions continue.
Thank you for your great question about peace building. I have been volunteering my help to a Canadian NGO CISEPO ( www.cisepo.ca) who have been involved in peace building through health initiatives in the Middle- East for about 20 years. So the effort and foundation to peacebuilding through partnerships with organizations and people from Israel, Jordan and Palestine has already been put in place. We used some of these partners to help contribute money and in-kind contribution to help start this next affordable hearing project. So our hope and thoughts are outside groups working towards peacebuilding, the workers who have a disability working together, then the final part will be an inclusion program when these workers go out to train and educate others in Israel, Jordan and Palestine. We are also working with a great Ashoka group in Palestine, Stars of Hope Society. I will be going to Palestine in a couple of weeks and have been invited by the Prime Minister of Palestine, to discuss with him our project AND Ashoka. He knows about both organizations. I have a gift from Ashoka to give to him.
You are right Paula, hearing aid batteries are a bigger problem than affordable hearing aids. The problem with batteries is that a normal zinc one used in 99.9% of all hearing aids lasts about a week and costs about $1.50US. Our battery which also cost $1.50 lasts 2-3 years.
The other problem with batteries in developing countries is not only the cost of the batteries but also the accessibility. Too often , well meaning charitable organizations gives out 100's of thousands of hearing aids, but only 1 battery. Yep, one week later the hearing aid sits in the child's drawer never used again.
You also have to ask yourself, how could a small NGO in rural Botswana develop the first rechargeable hearing aid battery and make lots money, and the big companies, eg Ray O VAC, Panasonic, EverReady could not. Simple answer, they do not wish to do so as it is not profitable. They would rather sell 200,000,000 zinc batteries every year versus a fraction of that amount.
In the short term Paula you can email me at howard@solarear.com.br and I will tell you how to buy it. In about a month we will have a PayPal system set up on our web site ( in English) www.solarear.com.br and we can ship anywhere in the world.
In a few more years we will have 25 affordable hearing aid places open, around the world. Maybe in less than a year , you will have one in USA where you can buy from. I will be working with the USA National Institutes of Health next month as they want to know how we replicate our disruptive business model in USA. Being Canadian we are more than happy to stir some sh*t in USA.... it's part of our limited culture.
I've never thought about the battery issue when it comes to giving out hearing aids to people in developing countries. That's really just something that I take for granted. However, obviously in places where you can't just run down to your local grocery store to pick them up, this is certainly a major challenge to have to get across.
Today~s question;
What do you want written on your gravestone?
Great question! Off the top of my head and heart, I would want the gravestone to read that I found peace and purpose on this earth, despite the craziness of it all.
If that didn't fit then, just a recycle symbol would suffice... of course mother nature's recyclers wouldn't need any prompts or permission to move in ;)
Now all I have to do is have my imaginary epitaph guide my real life. No small feat but thanks for the reminder!
We just wanted to congratulate Howard on being selected as a 2009 Tech Awards Laureate!
"The Tech Awards: Technology benefiting humanity, presented by Applied Materials, Inc., is one of the premier annual humanitarian awards programs in the world, recognizing technical solutions that address the most critical issues facing our planet and its people. The program honors 15 global innovators (Laureates) who are applying technology to benefit humanity in five universal categories...
Solar Ear, Howard Weinstein (Botswana, Brazil): Standard Western hearing aids cost an average of $750, with battery costs typically $1 per week. Solar Ear, an inexpensive hearing aid, suited to local conditions and manufactured by deaf workers who train one-another, costs $100 and is paired with a solar recharging unit for the batteries"
www.solarear.com.br
For more info check out the related doc under resources.