Nairobi, Kenya: 2011
Two second-year students from the Speech Language Pathology (SLP) Department at the University of Toronto (U of T), Hilary Cochrane and Katie Vikken, completed their clinical placements at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya (2011). This clinic is the first of its kind in Nairobi and aspires to conduct state-of-the-art Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and Fluency Disorder assessment & management. However, the clinic’s audio-visual equipment, such as camcorders and sound recorders, were broken and outdated. Hilary and Katie turned to the International Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation (ICDR) and Hear2Speak for help in upgrading the clinic’s equipment.
Hear2Speak responded with enthusiasm by organizing a Pizza and Bake Sale!
The Pizza and Bake sale was held on 20 April 2011 in the lobby of 500 University Avenue in Toronto, which is home to the U of T department of SLP and the ICDR. Through the hungry appetites and charitableness of others, and a generous donation of three hundred dollars from an anonymous individual, we were able to raise five hundred and forty dollars towards AV equipment for the SLP clinic in Kenya!
A big thank you to all the organizers of the event and to all of those who donated to the cause! With your help, we were able to refurbish the SLP clinic`s AV equipment with the purchase of a video camera, an IPod touch and Velcro for AAC, and a laptop which was donated by ICDR! Thank you for continuing to help us accomplish our goal of initiating and supporting services related to communication disorders in developing countries.
