Since the days of summer camp, I have always been one to prepare for a trip and pack my bags in early anticipation. As our departure date approached, I could not contain the excitement I felt for my trip to Brazil. During spring quarter I had taken a class to prepare for the fellowship and felt as though I was ready to take on any challenge that may arise while working with the social enterprise, Solar Ear. I was familiar with the business plan of the enterprise and confident in what my role as a student would be during my five-week field placement. After learning about social entrepreneurship in class I was thrilled to be able to work alongside such inspirational, and some would say unreasonable, entrepreneurs. Metaphorically speaking, I had all my supplies nicely folded and packed in my bag and was ready to embark on the experience of a lifetime. Within moments of disembarking the plane, I realized that my five weeks in Brazil would be filled with new challenges that at times seemed insurmountable. Working intimately with the hearing impaired community forced me to re-evaluate my own preconceptions and prejudices and view such marginalized communities not as a uniform mass of people but unique and talented individuals.
I departed the plane in Salvador, Brazil slightly uncomfortable from several awkward sleeping positions and with a hint of butterflies in my stomach, not knowing what to expect. As we made our way through customs and out of the airport, we were presented with our first challenge: the language barrier. Surrounded by a buzz of Portuguese, we searched for the driver who was supposed to pick us up and deliver us to our first location. After searching a see of faces we identified a man holding a sign with our three names sketched on in close to illegible handwriting. This was a step in the right direction at least. The man greeted us with a brief one armed hug and headed towards the car, or so we thought. With absolutely no means of communication, we followed this man around as he walked laps in the parking garage, finally making the conclusion that he had forgotten where the car was parked. There was a light drizzle and a pungent smell of fish in the air. Just what we needed. And to top it off the Airlines had lost my bag, with all my supplies in it. With no means of communication we had no choice but to wait in patience and be supportive of each other. Looking back, this slight hiccup in our plans showed us the necessity of supporting each other as a team, encouraging each other to maintain optimistic attitudes.
After a few short days in Salvador touring several deaf institutes and getting ourselves acquainted with Brazilian culture, we relocated to São Paulo, the concrete sea that would be our home for the following weeks. I had never been to a city of such magnitude and had no idea what to expect of the city and of the Solar Ear employees.
Solar Ear employee assembling parts for the solar panel.
Upon introduction I was taken aback by the extent to which the Solar Ear employees welcomed us into their company, giving us a personalized tour guide to Sao Paulo and introducing us to all the employees. One particular individual amazed me with his intelligence and patience. This young man, Daniel, had been born with severe hearing impairment and by the mere age of twenty had learned both American and Brazilian sign language, as well as Portuguese and English. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, he could also read lips in both English and Portuguese. I was completely taken aback by the level of language mastery that this young man had achieved given his condition. During our first days with Solar Ear we met with him to learn a little Brazilian sign language, to provide us with a small but helpful foundation of communication with many of the individuals we would interact with.
As three Americans with no background in sign language or Portuguese we were not the easiest students and yet I never once saw Daniel get impatient or frustrated with us when he had to repeat himself multiple times. I remember sitting in those classes with a smile permanently plastered to my face as I marveled at this young man’s intelligence. Before interacting with Daniel I had this
During one of our sign language lessons with Daniel.
preconception that hearing impaired individuals, due to their inability to assimilate into the mainstream educational system, would be socially withdrawal. The friendship with Daniel that I built while in São Paulo forced me to deconstruct that prejudice. Just because these individuals had a momentous barrier to overcome growing up, in no way were these individuals stunted in their social interactions. In fact, I found all the Solar Ear employees to be incredibly social, with a genuine curiosity about American culture and society, and a heartwarming fascination with Disneyland. Getting to interact with a variety of hearing impaired individuals taught me that I should no longer categorize individuals in a marginalized group as homogenous. Just as all Muslims do not share identical religious beliefs, or just as all Americans do not drive SUVs, I learned that the hearing impaired population is composed of unique and unwavering individuals, each with their own story to tell.
Outside of the Solar Ear office, I was slowly learning to navigate my way through the monstrosity of São Paulo. As we were shuttled around from appointment to appointment by our wonderful driver Katia, I was often left in silence in the back seat of the car as I witnessed the diverse demograp
View of the economic disparity hidden within the skyscrapers of Sao Paulo.
hics that flashed past the window. Never before had I been in a city of such economic disparity. One minute we were winding our way through posh neighborhoods with gated houses and personal helicopters. One simple turn would bring us close to a favela, where living spaces were staked haphazardly on top of one another, with no formal electricity or plumbing. It was very common to have apartment high rises looking out over the mass sprawl of a favela. One Brazilian told me that at night, when the favela was illuminated with whatever sporadic lighting could be found, the resultant view looked like “a Christmas tree lit up at night.” I remember the slight feeling of nausea that swept over me when I heard this. How could individuals find beauty from such a grim reality? I realized that I was developing a prejudice against the rich of São Paulo, for how could they live in their mansions and helicopters while their neighbors fought a constant battle against hunger and drug violence in the favelas. I wanted the Brazilians to take actions themselves to support their fellow citizens. Although Solar Ear was slowly chipping away at the economic disparity by empowering hearing impaired individuals, I was not yet convinced that our work was actually changing people’s lives. Perhaps I had come into Brazil with too high of expectations regarding the impact we could make. Little did I know that these feelings of discouragement would soon by washed away by one young boy.
Several weeks into our time in São Paulo we embarked on a week long trip into the field to set up hearing clinics in the rural towns of Assis and Candido Mota. During this week we hoped tocollect the majority of our data, interviewing around one-hundred hearing aid recipients. My hopes were high and my enthusiasm pulsing. These feelings of purpose and determination soon shattered when we realized that our translator did not have the proper mastery of English in order to help us conduct our interviews. I felt as if our ten weeks of preparation during spring quarter were all a waste. Here we were isolated in the countryside without a reliable means of communicating with our target population. I found myself simply going through the actions of the day, feeling incredibly discouraged and slightly resentful towards the Solar Ear employees. Just as I was loosing grasp of any motivation I had left in me, one boy and his father walked into the clinic and changed my perspective entirely.
This young boy was four-years old and had been deaf since birth due to a progressive infection. As a single parent, the father struggled to make ends meet financially and did not have surplus money to put towards his son’s condition. They had come to Solar Ear that day with desperation and heavy hearts. Thanks to the support of Rotary International, all Solar Ear services and products were subsidized and given out for free that week. Consequentially, this young boy received his first hearing aids, but more importantly, his ability to hear! My heart warmed with joy as I saw this little boy light up with joy as he took in the novel world around him. My cheeks ached from smiling so much as the father stifled his tears to express his gratitude. This one experience changed my entire perspective about our week out in the field. Despite the inevitable frustrations of working with a social entrepreneurship in the developing world, I could now see that Solar Ear was making huge strides to overcome socioeconomic barriers that seemed insurmountable while in Sao Paulo.
Any given day in Brazil, I was either inspired by the sunshine, frustrated by my inability to effectively communicate, annoyed at the unreliable time schedule of the developing world or unsettled by the economic disparity. To say the least, my experience was a roller coaster. I learned that I could not dwell on minor speed bumps on the road but had to keep my energy focused on the big picture of why we had come to Brazil-to help an aspiring social enterprise prove the social benefit of their product. However that goal manifested itself each day, we learned to adapt and make the best of the situation. By building personal relationships with the hearing impaired I realized that these individuals were similar to me in so many ways that I often forgot the major barrier that they had overcome. At times I felt as though our work was 
not directly affecting any of the Brazilians we interacted with. I felt like a small fish in the big sea that was São Paulo. However, no great change is achieved overnight. I learned to focus on the small progressions- Daniel’s success story and the joy of the 4-year old boy. These memories are the ones that still bring a smile to my face and will forever inspire me to pursue a career that impacts the developing world.