Shrewsbury-based charity receives generous response to its appeal
Shrewsbury-based charity Signal has received a generous response to its radio appeal to help children with hearing loss in Africa go to school.
Signal was chosen to make one of this year’s BBC Radio 4 Appeals. The appeal was read by broadcaster Sybil Ruscoe who hails from Wem and whose own family has experience of hearing loss.
The charity has received hundreds of kind donations from people from Aberdeenshire to Shropshire to the Isle of Wight and has raised over £16,000 to help children like 13-year-old Jonathan in Malawi.
Jonathan has been unable to hear since early childhood and struggled to communicate. He said:
“Whatever teachers were teaching could not ring a bell in my heart. I had a strong feeling that school was only meant for those who could hear properly. I had no friends at school or at home.”
Jonathan, his family, teachers and village leaders took part in Signal’s training workshops. Jonathan learned to lipread and his teachers gained skills to support him in the classroom. He said:
“I saw teachers giving me attention and they were not too fast anymore. For the first time I got a 79% pass in English and I do see a brighter future ahead of me.
“I became friends with everyone. They were happy to share their notes with me and they could play with me, something which was not happening before.”
Sybil Ruscoe, who presents and reports on BBC Radio 4's Farming Today, commented:
“I am absolutely thrilled with the response to our Signal appeal on BBC Radio 4. We really do appreciate the response and we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us.
“Signal is a small charity but the money raised will make a big difference. Because of the generosity of the people who responded to our appeal, hundreds of children with a hearing loss will now be able to go to school and receive a good education.
“The young people will have more opportunities in life and a much brighter future.”
Signal is the charity working to end isolation and improve wellbeing for people living with hearing loss both in Africa in Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia and here at home in Shropshire.
