After visiting Hope for the Deaf School, the team of Williette Safehouse subsequently agreed to support the school with a plan to gradually clean, renovate and paint their dilapidated classrooms. This promise was fulfilled on February 13, 2018, when the team went to the school.

Hope for the Deaf School is catering to young people with disabilities (PWD) around Liberia, serving around 60 deaf and hard-of-hearing students. 

In September 2017, the Williette Safehouse staff visited the school and found some of the classrooms in deplorable condition and needed urgent renovations. The classrooms were semi-permanent buildings and were abandoned due to dirty floors and wall-harboring insects. The scarce resources meant that students had to be cramped in small classes while parts of the facility remained unutilized.

The project started in the early morning and ran late into the afternoon. It was met with excitement by both the students and teachers. The school members showed their support by helping to transfer cleaning materials and paint tools as the volunteers from the Williette Safehouse worked to put the classroom back in shape — dividing themselves efficiently into groups of movers, scrubbers, and painters. 

The enthusiasm of Williette Safehouse’s team, the school’s staff, and students, coupled with a great mix of African music in the background, created a positive experience. Hope for the Deaf School outreach and renovation project is the first of Williette Safehouse’s monthly Service Projects to generate awareness for inclusion and improve varying aspects of the Liberian Disabled Society. The focus is to provide care for the community: providing PWDs of different demographics with necessities, academic assistance, and skills training for self-sustainability.