Educate Deaf Children in Mexico

We wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends and supporters, wherever in the world you might be!

We also wish to express our sincere gratitude to all our other friends and supporters and thank you for being there for us on Global Giving!

During this busy time of year, we hope you will take a moment to read a little about our plans at
Escuela de Educación Especial (School for Special Education) in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
to take part in GlobalGiving.org’s exciting End of Year Campaign. The campaign offers the school many unique opportunities to raise needed funds from individual donors and to earn bonus grants from Global Giving. It is also, we are proud to announce, the jumping off point for EEE’s new Global Giving Project...but more about that later.

Our current project, “Educate Deaf Children in Mexico” is close to being fully funded and we are very grateful to you for supporting this initiative since it began September 2014. On behalf of the students at EEE, thank you for your generous support. To ensure that you stay up-to-date on what is happening at the school, we invite you to sign up for regular on-line newsletters by visiting our website www.eeesma.com

To demonstrate how your past support has created a huge impact, please let me introduce you to 5 year old Mari Cruz. She and her brother Adan who is 16 years old, are both profoundly deaf. They live with their family on a ranch several miles out of town and travel with their mother a long distance by bus to attend school. But first they must walk 30 minutes to the bus stop to be there when the bus arrives at 5:30am, a time when it is barely sunrise. Despite these hardships, Mari Cruz loves to come to school. She is full of smiles and plays enthusiastically with her schoolmates. She enjoys story time, number games and her sign language skills are improving immensely. Your generosity has allowed Mari Cruz to be a part of a very important Deaf culture and community, one she would never have known if it were not for the school. The education she will receive at EEE will provide her with opportunities in the years to come she would never before have imagined. Again, thank you for making this all possible.

As mentioned previously, on December 1st which also happens to be #GivingTuesday, one of the biggest giving days in the United States, EEE is launching a new project titled “Empower Deaf Women to Build a Business in Mexico” on the Global Giving platform. We invite you to read about it by clicking on the direct link to the project page below. Global Giving is offering nine bonus grants to the top participating organizations during the End of Year Campaign running from Dec.1st to 31st. This campaign gives you the opportunity to top up your US charitable donations for the US tax year 2015 in a very meaningful way. To qualify for the bonus grants EEE must raise at least $3,000 from 30 unique donors. This target is clearly possible, but will only happen through your generosity. It will be especially helpful if you are able to share our fundraising effort with your colleagues, friends and family. There will be a Recurring Match Campaign running in tandem with the End of Year Campaign. Any donor who signs up for a monthly recurring donation to the project will be matched to a maximum of $200, so it is the perfect time to start a recurring monthly donation. Please help us to be successful in earning a bonus grant by making a donation on December 1st or on any day you choose in December.

Learn more about how to “Empower Deaf Women to Build a Business in Mexico” at:
https://goto.gg/21955

Thanks again for all you do!

Links:

• School Website

Two short years ago, Elena, a young woman of 27 years, was curious about the school for special education, Escuela de Educación Especial in Spanish, which had recently opened its doors in her community. She learned about the school from friends taking classes there. Because, like her friends, Elena is deaf she explained to us in Mexican Sign Language “I was unsure how I would fit in. I was afraid that my sign language would not be good enough”. Overcoming her fear, Elena got up the courage to ask if she might be considered for a part-time cleaning job at the school. The school’s staff were more than pleased to give Elena the opportunity and she certainly didn’t let them down. She proved herself to be conscientious and dependable and her sign language skills were indeed good enough, in fact, more than good enough to communicate with others. This opportunity gave Elena, for the first time in her life, the chance to earn a little money of her own to contribute to her family.

A few months later, Elena enrolled in adult education classes at EEE with the aim of obtaining her primary school equivalency certificate, a dream she had thought would never materialize. For the first time she was attending literacy classes specifically designed for the deaf and, we are happy to report, is making good progress. Elena’s self-confidence and happiness is in stark contrast to what it was when she first knocked on the school’s door. It is obvious to all those who see her smiling face every day that she has found a place where she can come to feel valued, appreciated and be in the company of others who understand her. The school is a special place made up of some very special people, who apart from teaching academics, encourage all who are deaf or hard of hearing to join together in a culture and community that is uniquely their own.

Recently EEE began offering vocational training classes to the older students to teach skills with the view of giving these eager and ambitious young people a better chance of acquiring future employment. It was a surprise to everyone when Elena demonstrated an amazing talent for sewing! She had been taught to use an electric sewing machine as a young girl by volunteers from the United States but had never put the skill to good use. In fact, Elena is such a talented sewer that the school has offered her the paid position as a sewing instructor to the other students. What could be better than one deaf young woman teaching her special talent to other deaf young women?

Elena has experienced many “firsts” since coming to school and in the process has found her calling while living her dream of attending school and improving her sign language skills. Elena comments “I love coming to school every day”.
Thank you for your generosity in supporting EEE and making these important “firsts” happen for Elena and her fellow students. We would be happy to hear your comments and suggestions. Please email us at info@eeesma.com

Links:

• See the school's website
• Power Point Presentation