2006 PROJECTS

Holy Land Institute for the Deaf

Near Amman, Jordan

Furniture for the Jofeh Center for Special Needs - $16,500

The Holy Land Institute for the Deaf was founded in 1964 to provide rehabilitation, education, vocational training and other occupational-related services to deaf and disabled people. Brother Andrew de Carpentier vividly recalls his first days as director of the school. It was small, the children underfed and the Jordanian government planned to shut it down.

Today, the institute is a thriving school, providing an audiology center, vocational training opportunities and a teacher-training program for instructors throughout the Middle East . It enables and equips special education students for inclusion and participation in their families, jobs and civic societies. During the past five years, 1,000 trainees have attended the training institute for disabled instruction.

The institute's vocational training department, a vital component in arming deaf children to become productive and self-reliant adults, now trains students in carpentry, metalworking, needlework, car mechanics, molding ears for hearing aids, child care, computers, ceramics and printing. Several students take and pass the Tawjihi exam each year and go on to attend universities.

Jofeh Center , a community vocational training employment center for disabled people, has completed construction on its buildings. Now it needs furniture, such as desks, tables, files, shelves, stools, working tables, drying racks and tool cabinets.