All photography provided by Paul Gravett
Our Mission
Hearing Health International Initiative (HHII) is focused on serving those in need of hearing and other humanitarian aid in Ukraine and elsewhere internationally. HHII provides resources that enable a network of individuals to serve orphans and others in need without discrimination.
our vision
Our vision is to create a better future for Special Needs individuals by working to break cycles of need, poverty and neglect; allowing them to become responsible, caring and respectful citizens.
Our Goals for the ‘21 Mission Work were surpassed!
150 children and youth fit with 175 hearing aids!
due to Covid-19 we had to postpone our ‘20 visit. We went in the fall of 2021 to Ukraine
For 2021 & 2022 goals-see current Events & needs page
What We've Achieved before we became a non-profit organization
From 2003 through 2016, we have been able to test, fit and present without charge well over 850 hearing aids to hearing impaired students (ages 4-17) in eleven schools for the hearing impaired throughout Ukraine.
WHAT WE’VE ACHIEVED SINCE BECOMING A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
Since becoming a non-profit in 2017, we have fitted another 200+ children making it over and have taken on several other projects assisting in food, medicine and clothing needs.
With the assistance of our translator, we trained the staff at the Special Schools Kiev, Sumy, Dneper to service the aids and patients onsite.
April 2019 our mission included two extra schools, and 20 extra aids than originally planned. The need is great! See the new pics!
October of 2019, Paul Gravett went to the schools to assess the need for types of hearing devices needed to those orphans currently without a device, make impressions, etc to be ready for our April 2020 mission. This year, he was able to train onsite individuals on how to test, make impressions, etc., taking one more step toward the model of becoming self-sustainable.
2020 there were no missions due to Covid, and because the numbers rose the spring of 2021, we had to wait.
Sept/Oct 2021 missions once again continue, although Covid-19 is still a serious problem. We were able to fit 150 children with 175 aids, surpassing our goal by far!
If a child cannot hear, they cannot speak and without those two major essentials, a hearing impaired student has little chance for a job, a profession or a chance at a "normal" life. This is why we prioritize the list of those getting hearing aids in the following order:
Those that are 14-17 years old who will be out on the street within months. Every day that a student can hear and speak increases that student's chance for actual survival.
Those students between the ages of 4 and 9 years old, who have many months before they are out of school. They have the best chance of all.
Those students between the ages of 10 and 14 years old.
““We are attempting to get the institutions self sufficient in testing and care of the hearing aids. It is the same model we used in Romania (in the 90’s) and that program is now totally ran by Romanians we have trained. ””
We need continued support for the hearing aid program. We have provided digital hearing aids for children in need for over fifteen years.
To date we have provided over 1175 hearing aids, in Ukraine alone, to hearing impaired students without cost to either the student or the facility.
We have also served over 3200 orphans in twelve orphanages in the last seventeen years.
Annual expenses for the hearing aid program are between $30K and $35K.
Neither hearing aid or orphanage/women's shelter programs of H.H.I.I. has paid staff; our goal is to never have our administration costs exceed 3% of budget.
All volunteers cover their own living and travel expenses while in country.
We seek to provide top level technology to meet each student’s individual needs.
The statistics are grim for Ukrainian orphans anyway; the hearing impaired children face an even harder road.
Children “age out” of the orphanage system at age seventeen.
The sad fact is that child has an 80% probability of being dead, a prostitute or a criminal by the age of twenty two.
It is even worse for the hearing impaired child.
If a child cannot hear, they cannot learn at grade level nor can they speak. With a poor education and inability to communicate the options are very slim for these children.
Hearing aids change these children’s lives and open options that they never dreamed were possible.
We are the only group, that we are aware of, providing hearing aids for these needy children in Ukraine. We do not just bring hearing aids and food and clothing; we bring hope to these children. They can so easily slip into the dark maze of silence and a bad life.