Mother- Daughter fit Orphans in Tanzania with Hearing Aids for Safety

Many of the children in the orphanages in Tanzania are Albino. People with albinism are hunted in Tanzania, attacked, and killed for their bones which are ground up by witchdoctors to make potions thought to bring good luck.

Audiologist, Dr. Halvorson, founder of Lake Forest Hearing and Duet Hearing Preservation, is passionate about hearing health care. In early February, she traveled with her daughter to several orphanages in Tanzania to fit kids with hearing aids donated by her patients. “Hearing connects people to people, but more importantly, hearing is our safety system. It alerts us to danger, including kidnapers and other dangerous abuser around us,” says Dr. Halvorson.

The mother daughter team own a private audiology practice and belong to a nonprofit, Hearing the Call. As part of their mission, they provided hearing help to several hundred children. After being fit with hearing aids, five of the children have been moved out of the orphanage to a privately funded to school. Good hearing makes it easier to learn.

According to the World Health Organization, over 1.5 billion people globally live with hearing loss. Children in developing nations with hearing loss rarely get any schooling. The WHO also estimates hearing loss costs the global economy $980 billion every year. Treating hearing helps kids learn, reduces the risk of cognitive decline, depression and isolation, and provides sound safety awareness.

One parent thanked the hearing team saying, “thank you for helping my daughter hear so she can hear the dangerous men coming to molest her,” says Dr. Halvorson.

Join Dr. Halvorson and her team at Lake Forest Hearing help ears around the world hear better. Donate your old hearing aids to their Hearing the Call mission and be fit with new aids to reduce listening effort and the risk for dementia.