ADRA Austria is involved in several educational projects for deaf people in Kyrgyzstan. Here is a report about the past months, especially during the time of COVID-19.
25 deaf people visited the ADRA Business School in Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan with the aim of becoming independent. By becoming self-employed, the deaf people can earn regular income and are no longer dependent on other people. Besides topics such as marketing, strategy, and accounting, the participants also learn how to create a business plan. The ADRA team on site could successfully complete 11 training units. Due to COVID-19, however, the planned workshops for the implementation of a pitch have been cancelled. A pitch is the presentation of one’s own company to clients and business partners. ADRA Austria is planning the training within the next weeks.
Due to COVID-19, the project team faced new challenges. Since many deaf people could not work or begin the implementation of their business ideas, they were facing financial problems. Without further ado, the project team decided to provide food packages to the affected project participants to relieve their greatest need. Thanks to donations for this project, so many deaf people and their families could be provided with the most necessary things in this difficult time.
The government in Kyrgyzstan informed people about the current situation of COVID-19 through television and visual news and also appointed a translator for this purpose, who communicated the important news bits into sign language. Unfortunately, the sign language was of such bad quality that the deaf could not interpret it. The ADRA Austria project team was able to provide quick assistance in the form of a very capable translator, even in this challenging time.
Another problem was solved through donations: as there were health problems in a school in Batken, in the southern region of our project, due to unclean drinking water, a water filter system was installed. Thanks to donors, the students now have access to clean water which they can drink without hesitation.
From July, the Business School was able to resume its work. "We are very confident that, soon, the first students will start their businesses", so a project leader of ADRA Austria. "We are already looking forward to telling you more about this".
The original article was published on this web site.
