Young Palisadian Aids the Hearing Impaired in Colombia

Ten-year-old Jack Adams left his home in the Highlands this summer and traveled more than 3,000 miles to Bogota, Colombia.

Working with his mother Michelle Christie and the Starkey Hearing Foundation, Jack and a team of volunteers spent three days providing hearing aids to underserved Colombian children and adults.

“We spent all day every day fitting people for hearing aids. When you’re testing the hearing aid, all of a sudden they can hear you and their faces would light up. Some started crying and it’s really cool,” Jack said.

Upon arrival in Colombia, Jack went through a full course on how to fit the hearing aids, learning how to properly insert the tube into the ear and adjust the volume until patients could hear.

“The families were all very poor and there were thousands of people who needed hearing aids,” Jack said. “The lines were out the door and around the building. They waited all day and some stayed from 9 o’clock in the morning to late at night.”

During the five-day medical mission, volunteers worked 12-hour days to fit 1,250 people hearings aids – turning no one away. From children who had been born deaf, to those who had lost their hearing due to illness or old age, the mission provided a service that would otherwise be unaffordable in a nation battling extreme poverty.

Jack, who attends Echo Horizon Elementary in Culver City, has been around deaf children his whole life. His mother is the founder and executive director of No Limits, a nonprofit organization that offers a national theater program and after-school educational centers for deaf children.

His trip to Colombia, however, exposed him to a community where hearing loss can be extremely isolating. Unlike the United States, Colombia does not have a universal sign language. Deaf children are taught sign language that varies from school to school, making it extremely difficult to communicate with deaf people from outside their immediate community.

“A lot of the deaf people in Colombia can’t communicate with their family and it makes me heartbroken. I think we take hearing for granted and it’s very important,” Jack said.

Jack hopes to educate Palisadians about hearing loss and inspire others to get involved in their community here in the states or around the world to change the lives of the people in need.

“Give back because it doesn’t just make you feel good, it makes everybody else feel good,” Jack said. “When you help people, it changes their lives. Always be supportive of charities and do what you can to help.”

To learn more about how Starkey Hearing Foundation travels the globe delivering the gift of hearing to thousands of people each year, visit starkeyhearingfoundation.org.