OUTREACH COHESIVENESS 18-11-2006

Dear Friends,

 

Thanks for all the emails for the last few days. I can see that all of us have that special passion to serve and help the younger ones in the Outreach Department. I am even more encouraged as I read because the desire to serve God as the reason for pushing on is evident in all the emails.

 

I feel confident that we have a good team this term 2006/2007.  I thought very hard about each of your emails and feel that perhaps we all need to prioritize and summarize the general points.

 

I see Pauline’s points of MODELING (I will use capital letters for all the points we bring up)  and it is a good thing. However it is very hard to convince the rest of MHI. This is because of the fact that Singapore is changing and our ministers are encouraging GLOBALISATION. Within our own MHI Committee, this fact has already emerged and has been brought up as some Committee member already cannot fulfil his/her own commitment even to a once a month Committee meeting because they have to be in another part of the world.  Perhaps one day, Deaf Community will also be affected.

Therefore the hope that modeling will happen is probably going wait.

 

The need for VALUE ADDING, becoming MODERNISE in our methods and need for LEADERSHIP TRAINING are like some of u would say difficult to put into action. Yet they are not all that impossible.  I think it is a matter of our own time management. Like in the Bible, “your treasures (time and money) will be where your heart is” (Matt 6:21).  This, I think no body can influence us except ourselves.

 

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I want to bring us back to the DEMOGRAPHICS of outreach Department. Demographics helps us to prioritize our limited resources.

 

Outreach depart. has overall (approximately)  Deaf 70%

                                                       Hard of Hearing 25% (HH)

                                                       Hearing 5%

That includes all our target group (including students, working adults and volunteers)

 

I want to narrow down to a smaller group of students and perhaps working adults volunteers like yourself. 

 

I will merge hopefully ppl from Tuition and Drop in Center (DIC)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we continue, we need to know what they are like…….behaviour

 

	Communication methods	Family Influence	Peer Influence	Religious Belief	Media Influence
Deaf	Using signs	Poor family influence	Very strong Deaf and Deaf community	Seldom believe in God.	Very strong TV influence
HH	Verbal and few signs	Strong family influence	Weak HH community. More hearing community however hearing do not see them as hearing	Usually follow school and family religious influence	Books, newspapers, TV.
Hearing	Verbal	Strong family influence	Strong hearing community	50% feels religion is impt, 50% feels religion is not impt	Strong magazines, less TV.

 

 

	Interests
Deaf	Chatting with other Deaf
HH	? being with other hearing adults
Hearing	Being with other hearing friends

 

 

Feel free to add anything more. This is because the more we understand our target, the easier we will be able to maximize their potential.

 

It is important that we understand CROWD MENTALITY. Who influences you? It will influence the behaviour. Are our students mainly Deaf? Will Deaf peer be a better influence than Hearing Peer? Will family influence also affect their willingness to join?

Family influence is because of Parental and FAMILY VALUES (eg I will not talk to strangers. I will not take money from other people)

Perhaps we can also understand why TOUCH community is different from us.

 

Our ultimate Aim would be:

 

“(1) God will become the center of their lives

  (2) MHI will become their 2^nd Home”

We see that it is a pyramid population.

Bottom is most number of people. This includes those who come in and out of MHI, those who appear 2 times a year (Christmas and Chinese New Year Party) and as we go up, regular ppl who come to tuition and DIC regularly; and up people who serve as leaders.  You can see for yourself in MHI. What is left is Pauline who is full time, Vanessa, Shifeng, Paoru, Ryan, Yap, Cherie who are regular. Those who come regularly to Sunday Fellowship, etc.

Generally, all have accepted that MHI is our 2^nd Home. Most of us are working at “God become the center of our lives” including myself.

 

I try to summarise our aim:

 

MHI outreach department has many Deaf ppl. What are their needs?

 

I am going on an assumption that:

 

1)      The number of Deaf students will gradually decrease, though they will be the strongest supporter in MHI

2)      The number of HH students will increase in MHI in the future

3)      Because of the lack of peer support in the HH community, they will eventually adopt either Hearing or Deaf community to be their role model

4)      As HH have weak peer influence and strong family influence, we need to define our MHI VALUES. Allow this MHI VALUES to work within MHI Outreach Department amongst peers. When values are in place, I believe that will influence behavior and ultimately, fulfil our aim.