The Power of Hearing

The story of Francis is a perfect example of how important the power of hearing is to someone’s life.

Francis was born with hearing loss in Kenya, and growing up it was incredibly difficult for him to learn. His teachers often gave him a hard time for not understanding what they were saying. He took it upon himself to learn, as he loved to read and if he came across any words he didn’t understand, he would look them up in the dictionary.

Knowing that hearing aids could make a vast difference in his life, Francis worked very hard as a young adult to be able to buy hearing aids, and was incredibly happy when he was finally able to do so. He got a job as a motorcycle driver and was able to start a family.

Unfortunately, one day while driving his motorcycle, Francis was struck by a car. When he regained the consciousness in hospital, his first thought was about his hearing aids, but sadly they were broken beyond repair.

Francis prioritized taking care of his family, which grew to include six children, but it made it incredibly difficult to save enough money to buy new hearing aids.

Making things even harder, Francis was underpaid at his construction job because his boss felt he should be paid less because he couldn’t hear.

He tried to supplement his income by growing crops to sell at his local market, but since many of the people around Francis knew he couldn’t hear, they often took advantage of him and would steal what he was growing in the middle of the night.

Life went on like this for Francis for more than 12 years, until May of this year when we were able to restore his hearing with new hearing aids in Nairobi, Kenya. As soon as he got his hearing aids, he radiated joy throughout the hearing mission site.

We recently caught back up with Francis and he was still elated about his hearing aids. He talked to us about the happiness he feels now that he’s able to hear his family and communicate with them on a new level. He was also happy to share that he has taken up farming full-time and with his crops no longer being stolen, he’s been able to open a successful market stand.