Millions of people in South Africa suffer from disabling hearing loss, with children often struggling in silence. This issue is elevated in vulnerable communities where physical and mental health-care services are widely unavailable.
Zimkhitha Renene from Mbekweni has had severe hearing problems all her life, but she didn’t even realise it.
She lived with her mother until she died when she was in Grade 2. With no-one else to take care of her, she had to live with her grandmother who, unaware of Zimkhitha’s condition, initially thought she was being “cheeky” when she did not respond to being called.
Zimkhitha also thought her condition was normal. She would always walk close to her friends and resorted to lip reading to understand them.
After one of hearX Foundation’s screening tests at her school, Zimkhitha was referred to the audiologist at Paarl Hospital, where a profound hearing impairment was diagnosed. This was a life changing moment for Zimkhitha.
The hearX Foundation’s 3E project (Ears & Eyes for Education), grants access to hearing health care to those in urgent need, offering free screening tests at many schools in the area. Using innovative digital solutions that are easy to apply, the programme ensures scalability and accessibility for everyone.
Zimkhitha has experienced a remarkable difference in her hearing and quality of life since receiving her hearing aids.
“My hearing was bad. For a long time I could hardly hear anything. I can’t even express how I feel, I am lost for words. There is a lot of change. I can hear the teacher talk and that makes a huge difference,” says Zimkhitha happily.
Neziswa Fololo, a screener for the hearX Foundation’s 3E project, has been involved with the 3E project since its inception in July 2019. She performs screenings at schools and secures audiologist appointments, making sure patients remember to attend.
She is present at the fitting of each patient’s hearing aid and provides help if problems with these devices arise. Fololo regularly checks up on patients.
As an experienced screener she screens up to 30 older kids and 15 younger children per day.
“When you help someone, it’s a special feeling,” Fololo said. “It’s always a great feeling when you improve someone’s life.”
According to Nicol Tuscott, project manager of the hearX Foundation 3E project, his foundation screened nearly 1 585 children in Mbekweni in the first six months of the pilot project in 2019.
“At the primary schools we also asked to screen high-risk children, because there has never been a service like this,” he said. “Look at Zimkhitha, for example, she was much older when someone picked it up and she has a profound hearing problem.”
To this day, nobody knows whether she was born with a hearing problem or whether it had developed over the years.
But these days she hardly ever removes her “miracle” device, except before going to bed so she can be ready for another full day at school.
