A WHOLE NEW WORLD

She's been deaf since she.was a baby but now Chermelle ;s slowly startmg to hear thanks to a Cochlear Implant

- PIETER VANZYL

THE Orange River flows wide and majestic through the town, an oasis of renewal in the arid Kalahari. Velesca Maasdorp and her family stand together on a bridge, gazing down at the surging water.

She’s lost track of how many times they’ve crossed this bridge and driven the nearly nine-hour journey from Upington to Pretoria in the hope that their daughter Chermelle’s hearing could be restored.

But as exhausting as it’s been, it’s ultimately been worth it. Chermelle (14) is on the road to re-entering the hearing world – and this much is evident when the teen starts signing.

Her 12-year-old brother, Joshua, translates for us. “I can already hear a little bit,” he says on his sister’s behalf.

And each time Chermelle and her family return from Pretoria she’s able to hear a little more thanks to medical technology and the kindness of strangers.

Chermelle was just a baby when she became deaf after contracting meningitis. For more than 13 years she lived in silence – until two months ago, when she had a cochlear implant and heard her mom say, “Hello, Chermelle.”

That momentous day at the audiology clinic in Pretoria was just the beginning of a long process and many trips back to the Jacaranda City, where the device attached to her brain’s “volume button” is gradually turned up.

“It’s like mapping – her brain muscles need to get fit for better hearing,” says her dad, Franklin. “Doctors gradually ensure her brain can handle it.”

The strength of the device was at only five percent when Chermelle heard her mom’s voice in October and even that was overwhelming for the teen, Velesca says.

“She didn’t know who to listen to or look at – there were so many sounds.”

The strength was slowly increased to 22% and the family were due to return to Pretoria soon after YOU’s visit earlier in December for another adjustment.