Thank you for your support in 2015!

Ears to Our World extends our profound thanks, both for those we support, and for those who support us: namely, you. 

This past year––2015––will be noted as the year ETOW provided significant support for schools and communities in the wake of the Ebola virus, even as we continued our consistent support for our long-term partners throughout the world––such as Project Education South Sudan in South Sudan, Western Carolina University in Kenya, and EduCare Africa in Cameroon.

We are also grateful to our partner and supporter, Eton Corporation, for their continued donations of the self-powered radios that fuel our mission. Thanks, Eton!

And we couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you!

Now in our seventh year, ETOW remains dedicated to improving lives and building children’s futures through appropriate technologies, such as self-powered radios and super-efficient flashlights.   While we continue to work with our existing and new partners, we’re exploring the latest communications and media technologies in an effort to expand the horizons of the students and teachers we assist. We plan to test the use of an Outernet satellite receiver, as well as expand the use of the HumanaLight both through our mission abroad and here in the US.

If you’d like to make a tax-deductible gift to help us in our mission, you can make your contribution online. If you would like to learn more about the HumanaLight kit––or if you would like to purchase one––check out: humanalight.org.

We hope you've had a wonderful 2015, and continue to stay interested in and involved with Ears to Our World. We welcome your support in any form. And to those who’ve already given it, we thank you. 

May blessings abound and peace reign throughout our listening world in 2016!

In friendship,

Thomas Witherspoon
Executive Director,
Ears To Our World

a few words from ETOW’s  field partners...these words are for you

“I wish to express our sincere gratitude...We use the ETOW radio regularly to listen to news from around the world, especially stations like...the VOA, BBC, Vatican Radio and others...It is particularly helpful to us in this village environment because it doesn’t require electricity...”

“The [ETOW] radio has helped the students, teachers and the community...During free periods the teachers and students come round to get free information over the radio.  For me, the radio has also been my working partner...It serves as a torch or lamp in the absence of fuel...”

“A journalism student...receives the news over the ETOW radio and presents it every morning...to the entire student body.  The Radio has been functioning now for two years without any problem.  Thank you so much..."

“Our school is...without electricity [while] Telephone service is only sporadic, therefore the presence of such a powerful radio which receives right on campus and most parts of the village is a welcome relief to the entire community...We lack words to express our gratitude...”

“The administration of GHS Ntumbaw, the entire student body and the Ntumbaw community...wholeheartedly express their joy to you for the radio received. The fact that it generates power on its own saves us the cost of going for dry cells...giving us news of Cameroon and without. Thanks for your unreserved generosity...”

“On behalf of the students of this school, I thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart...”

“The ETOW radio is functioning effectively and we are making maximum use of this precious gift...Thank you..."

“Immense thanks and God bless your organization..."

“We pray that God should continue to give you the means to help other people around the world as you have helped us..."

“We remain grateful to you now and forever.”

And we at ETOW add our thanks to these.  You have truly made a difference to the world––we, too, remain grateful now and always.

thank you.

Celebrate World Radio Day 2015

Ears To Our World will be celebrating World Radio Day, February 13 along with many of you. As its sponsor, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is calling on people everywhere to recognize and trumpet what we so passionately know: Without radio, people in poor and remote communities around the world have no other access to the vital news and information so important to enrich their lives.

Your generous donations to ETOW have, and will continue to bring radio to those people most in need.

World Radio Day is a time “to remember the unique power of radio to touch lives and bring people together across every corner of the globe,” UNESCO reminds us. Your support is vital. Let’s all do our part.

In 2013, ETOW Founder and Director, Thomas Witherspoon, was interviewed by UNESCO and spoke about the relevance of radio. You can listen to his interview below:

Mike is Gifting HumanaLights This Year

Many thanks to ETOW supporter Mike McShan, who purchased HumanaLight kits, built them, and gave them as Christmas gifts this year. Mike recently tweeted:

Giving Humanalights this year as presents @earstoourworld #hamr pic.twitter.com/6rtcfGQ2DA

— Mike McShan (@w5rst) December 22, 2014

His family and friends are receiving a flashlight that runs for weeks on dead batteries.  Moreover, in purchasing HumanaLight kits, Mike has directly supported our work in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cameroon, South Sudan, Kenya, Belize, Haiti and many other countries we serve.

Thank you, Mike!  And Happy Holidays!

Education and outreach: Building HumanaLights with the Skyview Radio Society

Many thanks to ETOW supporter, John Hoffman, K3STL, who shares the following article:

Some of the members of Skyview Radio Society soldering their HumanaLight projects during Skyview Radio Society’s “Solder Smoke Elmer Night.” (Photo Credit: Bob Bereit, K3RMB)

Skyview Radio Society, K3MJW, founded in 1960, is an amateur radio club located about 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a small town called New Kensington. Skyview participates in many amateur radio-related activities and events. Members meet every Tuesday night at 7 PM.  Each week features a different topic of interest. The 4th Tuesday of the month is Skyview’s “Elmer Night” (“Elmer” is term in amateur radio circles that refers to a person who provides guidance and assistance to would-be and novice hams.)

Occasionally, Skyview has a “Solder Smoke Elmer Night,” which gives club members the opportunity to solder different projects.

Jim, KQ3S, soldering his HumanaLight project. (Photo Credit: John Hoffman K3STL)

After completing his Humana Light, Frank elmers James, KC3CSH, with soldering James’s project (Photo Credit: John Hoffman K3STL)

Frank, KB3YJQ, shows off his completed Humana Light project powdered by a depleted battery. (Photo Credit: John Hoffman K3STL)

Dewey, W3VYK, having fun and soldering his Humana Light. (Photo Credit: John Hoffman K3STL)

The difficulty faced with the Solder Smoke Elmer Nights is finding a project that will  appeal both to new and “seasoned” hams and is fairly inexpensive to build. Luckily, while attending the Four Days in May conference during the Dayton Hamvention, I had the opportunity to meet Thomas Witherspoon (K4SWL) from Ears to Our World. Thomas was promoting his organization’s HumanaLight kits. After speaking with Thomas, I knew this would be a great project for Skyview’s Solder Smoke Elmer Night. I ran the idea past the membership and many signed up to order the HumanaLight kits. We decided on September 23rd as a project build date.

Everyone was delighted on Solder Smoke Elmer Night upon opening their kits and seeing a fairly simple build ahead of them. While the soldering pencils were warming up, the plans were reviewed, and everyone confirmed that no components were damaged or missing. Time to start soldering the components!

We had paper handouts and also projected onto the whiteboard the easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions. Those who were more familiar with soldering “Elmered” those who were new and needed help. What I liked most was seeing the smile on each person’s face upon pressing the switch on their completed HumanaLight and seeing the light turn on. Everyone must have followed the instructions because everyone’s light worked. Some of the people extended the project by trying new and depleted batteries to see the difference in light intensity. Some members plan to use their HumanaLights in their go-kits and some plan to bring their HumanaLights with them while camping. The HumanaLight project turned out being a great Solder Smoke Elmer Night for Skyview Radio Society and everyone really enjoyed building it. What a great development by Ears to Our World!

Jack, KA3HPM, Elmers Joe, KC3CSI, by checking Joe’s solders joints. (Photo Credit: John Hoffman, K3STL)

It should be pointed out that building the HumanaLight kit not only provides an educational and fun activity, it actually is a very useful light that runs for weeks on “dead” or depleted batteries, which can no longer power more demanding devices like radios! 

Proceeds from Skyview’s purchase of the HumanaLight kit went to Ebola relief in Sierra Leone in the form of AM/FM radios that make it possible to better disseminate information to the population about Ebola prevention and treatment efforts. 

As demonstrated by Skyview’s experience, building the HumanaLight kit is a fun and educational group activity. Other radio clubs, schools, scouting or church groups definitely should consider the HumanaLight kit for their next project.  

Please contact Ears to Our World for further information. You can purchase the HumanaLight kit from either Universal Radio or Gigaparts. For more information about the HumanaLight kit, and to watch an instructional video, please visit HumanaLight.org.

Many thanks to the Skyview Radio Society for sharing this article!

Message from ETOW Director, Thomas Witherspoon

During this holiday season, at ETOW, we want to offer our heartfelt thanks, both for those we support--the source of our mission and motivation!--and for those who so generously support us: namely, you.  

2014 will be noted as a year we successfully launched our HumanaLight kit—a vital fundraiser and educational tool. We couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you!

This past year has seen ETOW working actively through our partners, Project Education South Sudan in South Sudan, Western Carolina University in Kenya, EduCare Africa in Cameroon, and Heartland Community College in Belize. This year, we've focused our attention to West Africa, in particular…

Ebola Relief: How you can help

Of course, the biggest news item out of West Africa is the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. While many charitable organizations are focused on getting medical assistance into the area, we have found that we are uniquely qualified to help as well.  

In  Sierra Leone and Liberia schools have been closed in an effort to slow the spread of Ebola. Radio stations in Sierra Leone have begun broadcasting educational content over FM radio. While radio is a widely accessible resource, many children do not have ready access—and in rural areas, radio batteries can even be problematic to find and purchase.

We contacted our partner in Sierra Leone, the ACIPP; and through the DERSWA (Disaster, Emergency and Relief Service for West Africa) consortium, we have already begun the process of sending 125 radios to Sierra Leone. Much of the funding for this donation came from the sale of our HumanaLight kits.

Our friends and supporters at Eton Corporation have generously donated self-powered radios for use in rural communities in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

We would like to send 500 more radios to Sierra Leone and Liberia this winter.

A gift as little as $30 can help us send a radio to a group of children in Sierra Leone or Liberia.

ETOW is dedicated to improving lives and building children’s futures through appropriate technologies, such as self-powered radios and super-efficient flashlights.  If you would like to make a tax-deductible gift to help us do this, please visit to our Donate page (printable donation forms also available). If you would like to learn more about the HumanaLight kit, or if you would like to purchase one, check out: humanalight.org.

We hope you've had a wonderful 2014, and continue to stay interested in and involved with Ears to Our World. We welcome your support in any form. And to those who’ve already given it--We thank you.

May blessings abound and peace reign throughout our listening world in 2015!

In friendship,
Thomas Witherspoon
Executive Director,
Ears To Our World

Celebrating World Radio Day 2014

Today is UNESCO World Radio Day–a day to celebrate the continued relevance of radio in the twenty-first century.

And today, you, too, can make a difference with radio.  Here’s how:

• Send a shortwave radio, care of us here at Ears To Our World. You can send one self-powered shortwave radio to a classroom or community in the third world for as little as $40.  In impoverished regions still without internet access or electric power, your tax-deductible donation of one radio can inform and empower an entire community of listeners. Click here to donate one time or, if you like, monthly.

• If you’ve heard my 2013 recording for UNESCO regarding the relevance of radio, you may also like to visit World Radio Day’s webpage and hear what others have to say about the relevance of shortwave radio. Share this page with your friends.

• Contact your representative(s) and remind them of the continued importance of shortwave radio in today’s world. Click on the following links to search for your government representative(s) in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

• Need more ideas to celebrate World Radio Day?  Check out UNESCO’s great list.

Wishing you a wonderful World Radio Day!

Warmly,

Thomas

ETOW Founder/Director

Looking back on 2013

Dear Friends,

It’s been a bright year for Ears to Our World, and we’re profoundly grateful for all the Support we’ve received––and continue to receive.  So, thanks to our many, many friends––among them, educators, administrators, clergy, associates, guides, logistical experts, directors, and partner organizations the world over––and thanks to you.  

Following are but a few of ETOW’s 2013 highlights, that you helped make possible:

Miracle Malaki, a visually impaired student at the BCVI Summer Camp in Belize City, Belize, receives a self-powered radio from Ears to Our World. (Photo: David Korchin)

Sierra Leone: Ears To Our World donated world-band radios to a human rights program for use in a human rights monitoring project

South Sudan: For the fifth year now, ETOW worked with partner Project Education South Sudan to serve remote communities and schools helping shape South Sudan’s new democracy. And this year, in a new trial project, ETOW also provided a girls’ dormitory with a GoalZero portable solar lighting system for study and security

Cameroon: Also for the fifth year, ETOW continued work with Educare Africa, and received a wonderful report from a small remote village

Belize: ETOW continued to work with the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired; in July, ETOW advisory board member and photographer David Korchin accompanied me to inner-city Belize to document our placement of ETOW radios with a number of inspiring kids attending BCVI’s summer camp (one of his amazing photos is enclosed)

Kenya: ETOW board member/professor Nyaga Mwaniki and his group of university students distributed radios, through Kosmos Solutions, to schools and communities in rural western areas

Mongolia: ETOW and partner EduRelief undertook our most recent project in the extremely remote Tsagaanuur (White Lake) region of Mongolia, near the Russian border, distributing radios to nomadic Tsataan reindeer herder families

But among the brightest potential projects we’ve undertaken in 2013 is our new partnership with Western Carolina University’s Kimmel School of Engineering, where a group of bright students have just produced a new prototype of our HumanaLight, the remarkable little LED flashlight that shines long and bright, even when powered by the residual voltage of “dead” batteries.  

Right now, we need your help to raise the materials costs of our first production run of the HumanaLight. Please, won’t you help us reach our goal?  We only need $5000 more to make this little light shine the world over.  With our loyal supporters, we can do it...and school children in powerless areas will soon walk home, not just with their schoolbooks, but with a safe, affordable light to read them by.  

In 2014, may blessings abound and peace reign throughout our listening world. Happy holidays!

In friendship,

Thomas Witherspoon

Director, ETOW

Donation Crosses Globe as AIM Sets Sights on ETOW’s Humanitarian Mission

Ears to Our World is delighted to announce that it has accepted a generous — and wholly unexpected — gift from a non-profit educational institution…clear on the other side of the globe. It’s an ideal illustration of how access to information shrinks the world, and can make it a better place at the same time.

ETOW founder Thomas Witherspoon said the unforeseen largesse, from the Australian Institute of Music (AIM), which learned of ETOW through an Internet search, would support the organization’s continuing work in countries like Kenya, Cameroon, and South Sudan, where it has expanded its presence with a recent shipment of radios. The shortwave broadcast receivers ETOW distributes enable children and their support networks in the most remote, impoverished parts of the world to hear educational programming, local and international news, emergency and health information, as well as music and arts programming.

The ambitious, course-related endeavor that led to the donation was a fulfillment of AIM’s Events and Project Management class. Dubbed “Memories & Melodies,” it was held at the Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia, and focused on the theme of “Music Nostalgia” through film clips, hired props, and highlights from musical history. Entertainment included a hoopla performer, a ballet dancer, and a comedic gypsy. Guests also enjoyed a glam booth and photo booth, bingo, a dance competition, and a DJ playing hits from the 1950s through the present. Revenue would be collected from ticket sales, raffles, donations, a silent auction, and sponsorships. To donate those proceeds, the non-profit institution wanted to find a charity that aligned with its own vision.

AIM fundraising team photo from "Memories and Melodies"--all dressed in the music nostalgia theme.

Ashton Smith, project manager for “Memories and Melodies” and a student of AIM, said, “We agreed to align the event with an organization which focuses on ‘access to the arts’ in some form or another.” After much “scouring of the Web,” as Smith puts it, they came across ETOW, which had a further appeal to them by also targeting communities disadvantaged by social, political, or economic circumstances. They selected ETOW as the sole recipient of their donation. “At the Australian Institute of Music, we value the importance of having access to broadcast media, and can think of no better cause to support,” he added.

“Memories & Melodies” was a resounding success, attended by 140 people and raising a total of $1,700 for ETOW.

Witherspoon says the donation perfectly reflects ETOW’s core principle that access to information is access to education, stating, “Here we have an educational institute in Australia reaching out via the Web — the ultimate access tool — to a humanitarian organization in the U.S. to help foster its efforts in schools in Africa. It’s also inspiring, and humbling, that the young people behind the event, many of whom will one day work in mass media, chose to donate the fruits of their labors to people without mass media, in small villages in another hemisphere. It doesn’t get any more global than this.” 

“As we here at AIM make music our life, it's hard to imagine a life without it,” explains Ashton Smith. “Throw in education, news and health information and you've got power through access to information. ETOW just offered the full spectrum for those who need it the most and we were proud to support them.”