Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/96437
"Puedes oírme?" [Can you hear me?] This simple question was asked hundreds of times a day as children and elders filed in and out of a temporary clinic set up through the Starkey Hearing Foundation in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2007. I watched every move the foundation's creator, Bill Austin, made – from the placement of the mold, to the connection of the tube, to the hearing aid and, finally, to the flick of an infinitesimal switch that turned on the world of sound. The transformation from a dark world of silence to the bright world of sound was instantaneously visible as the recipient's face lit up. To Austin, this transformation is an every day experience. To me, that moment during a trip with my mother and sister was nothing short of extraordinary. This was when I first learned that one person could change a life. When the time arrived for me to fit a hearing aid for the first time, a young girl was sitting in the chair at my station. She looked up at me and gave me a nervous smile. Her little hand was wrapped tightly around her mother's. The girl was born without the ability to hear and had never even heard the sound of her own voice before – something I could not even imagine. I grabbed the small-sized hearing aid, placed it behind the girl's tiny ear, measured the tube to the exact size, and then connected the aid to the tube. I placed my finger on the switch and "click." The girl suddenly let go of her mother's hand and grabbed mine instead. She began to laugh and cry at the same time: "Mama. Mama!" Her mother grabbed my hand as well and we stood there in silence, watching her daughter experience the pure joy of hearing for the first time. We three strangers had just shared a moment that we would never forget for the rest of our lives. Since that first visit, we have gone on two other missions to many cities in Mexico, and we have fit over 7,000 hearing aids. Some of my family members have hearing loss, so we feel very strongly about this cause and about helping others to experience the tremendous improvement in the quality of their lives when fitted with a hearing aid. But, hearing aids are very expensive and many people around the world have no access to them. Through the Starkey Foundation, more than 50,000 hearing aids are delivered annually and are placed by volunteers participating in more than 100 hearing missions. Not only do they give the gift of hearing, but the organization also promotes hearing health awareness while supporting research and education. To me, volunteering for the foundation is about helping others and giving them the chance to live among the beautiful sounds of the world. These incredible experiences have taught me that in the words of Bill Austin: "We truly live through what we give – we live on into the future through our gifts back into our community and to humanity." "We three strangers had just shared a moment that we would never forget for the rest of our lives." Brittany and her sister Lexie '09 on mission trips with the Starkey Foundation to fit hearing aids in Mexico. Latin School of Chicago 15