Author: innexus

Sheila is one of the first female optometrists who graduated from the School of Optometry in Makerere University, Uganda. She graduated in January 2019 and completed her 6-month internship.

Sheila started wearing glasses when she was only 8 years old. She could not see the blackboard in her class and her teacher noticed her struggling. Sheila and her brother both were myopic, and after eye exams at the Hospital they were diagnosed as needing glasses.

“As an optometrist, I need to be able to see my patients properly.” Sheila knows the importance of having glasses, without which she would not have been able to become an optometrist today.

Optometry was not something she knew a lot about as a child or even in high school. As she started learning more about optometry, she realized how blessed she is to become an optometrist and appreciated her learnings even more.

As the first optometry students, Sheila and her friends have fought many battles, but she is thankful and proud that the profession is now recognized in Uganda. “I am among the first female optometrists in Uganda, so it gives me a lot of pride!” She wants to encourage young girls to study optometry because she believes it is a prestigious profession.

She wants to thank all the funders, including Optometry Giving Sight, for providing excellent equipment and lecturers, without which they would not have been able to get through the course and become the first optometrists in Uganda.

Alejandra has been on a journey of discovery and one that resulted in a beautiful transformation of her young life.

For an active, intelligent and successful student who always liked to perform well in school, it was a matter of concern when, at the age of ten, Alejandra’s class performance started declining.

She said she couldn’t understand why she had problems reading words from the school board and had to depend on other students for help. Recognizing people and signs from a distance was another problem she started having.

“Fear,” she said, is the only word that comes to her mind when Alejandra was asked how she felt. Over time the fear started to turn into distress, and she began to develop the habit of putting her head in her hands and resting like that for a long time – it all seemed to be too much.

Her concerned parents looked for a solution to the difficulty their daughter was experiencing. After having a long discussion with Alejandra’s teachers, they all agreed she was having great trouble seeing well. Unfortunately, eye care services are expensive and not close to Alejandra’s town community.

Together they looked for ways to help Alejandra feel better and be able to continue to join in regular school classes. She sat close to the school board which seemed to help some, but by the afternoon she would resort to holding her head in her hands. Her teacher was sad to see her stop playing school yard games.

Luckily, the following year Alejandra’s school was invited to participate in a school screening program implemented by Ver Bien, supported by funding partner Optometry Giving Sight.

Having a comprehensive eye examination and the correctly prescribed glasses has helped Alejandra greatly improve the quality of her life and allowed her youthful ambitions to open up again. She mentioned her dreams returning.

“My life is easy now,” Alejandra said happily. “I can see all my friends walking to school, so I feel part of life again. And I can see the school board and play catch again, my favorite lunch recess game.”

Nimesha, like many young teenage girls, loves school, chatting with her friends and spending time with her family. She has many ideas for what she wants to do when she graduates High School – on the top of the list: Medical School. Unfortunately, unlike other children her age, Nimesha noticed her eyesight deteriorating two years ago and her quality of life also quickly began to deteriorate.

“Although I noticed my eye problem two years ago, there was no one who could come with me to the eye clinic. My mother works full-time and my father passed away four years ago,” she said. Not only that, but Nimesha is part of a large percent of low-income families in Sri Lanka who don’t have access to regular health care and lack substantial employment opportunities.

Nimesha said that when she goes to school, she cannot see the blackboard clearly from where she sits. She added, “I have to hold my textbooks very close to my face in order to read the small font.It is not fair because all I want is to be able to see, work and play like the other girls in my class.”

Nimesha was very excited about being seen by the eye care nurses and optometrists who came to her school. After being screened and further examined by the Brien Holden Foundation team through a program funded by Optometry Giving Sight, she was provided with high prescription glasses. Nimesha now enjoys playing with her friends and studying more effectively, and is no longer alienated by her classmates. She now has equal opportunity to reach her goal of becoming a doctor when she graduates.

Maadia is an eleven-year-old girl who has been experiencing poor vision for just over two years. Although she spoke to her parents about her failing sight, they were unable to help her due to their financial situation.

“My parents felt really bad, but they said they couldn’t do anything,” explained Maadia. “They didn’t have enough money for me to go to the hospital, so they said I had to wait until they had money. I knew it would be a long time before I could get my eyes checked. I lost hope that I would ever see normally again.”

Maadia was therefore thrilled when she found out her teachers would be participating in the School Eye Health Program, implemented by the Brien Holden Foundation and the Tanzania Ministry of Health, and funded by Optometry Giving Sight. Teachers from schools around the Bagamoyo District of Dar es Salaam were trained in eye health education and were also taught how to screen the children’s eyes and refer them for treatment when needed.

The School Eye Health Project offers eye screening and refraction services for free, and when a child is found to have refractive error or is found to need any medication or glasses, the project will cover all expenses.

Maadia was very happy and surprised when her teacher told her about the project. “I was the first in line to get my eyes checked,” she laughed. “I was so excited! And my parents were so happy for me.”

After her screening, Maadia was identified with low vision and was referred to Mlandizi Vision Centre for further tests.

Maadia was delighted that she will now receive the treatment for free. “I am very happy, and I have high hopes that I am going to be treated and will be able to read easily. I will be comfortable and able to sit in any position in my class. I will also be able to read anything from the board and my performance in school will greatly improve,” Maadia said excitedly. “My life will be wonderful,” she said smiling.

“My new glasses make me feel so happy,” said Trung, a nine-year-old boy from the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau in Vietnam. Trung tells his story of the daily struggles he experienced for several years due to his poor vision.

“For a while now there have been times when I’m at school that I felt dizzy and I couldn’t join in the activities all the other students are doing. I did not feel very happy at those times,” Trung said.

The young boy explained his parents had been told that while he seemed to be experiencing difficulties at school, that this can often happen to children of his age and that he would grow out of it.

“I hoped that I would grow out of it soon,” Trung said. “But now I know that I don’t have to wait anymore. With my new glasses I can see everything very well and so school will be great. Before, I couldn’t see the lesson board even though everyone else could,” he said.

Trung’s mother said his teacher at the school would be very pleased he now has the glasses he needed. “She urged me to bring Trung here to the eye unit and have his eyes checked. She was worried he was falling behind the other students of his age even though she knew he tried to be a good student. Now things will be different,” she said smiling.

Trung was given an eye exam and a pair of glasses through an Optometry Giving Sight funded project.

Lyhour is a 14-year-old from Phnom Penh in Cambodia who attended a school screening program that visited his high school. The program was funded by Optometry Giving Sight and supported by the Brien Holden Foundation.

“About three years ago I started having trouble at school and at home being unable to see things clearly. Something changed in my eyes. I had to get very close to everything before it was easy for me to see,” Lyhour said.

“This made my life at school very hard especially as I got older and my vision got worse,” Lyhour explained. “I just wanted to be able to see like the other children in my class.”

Lyhour explained his excitement when he knew the school screening was coming to his school. He described thinking that maybe there was a new solution for his vision problem. “My life became happy again imagining that maybe I don’t have to spend my whole life not being able to see well,” he smiled.

“Today is one of the best days of my life. I can’t explain how I feel. I only have a wait a few more weeks now until my new glasses arrive and then my life will change forever. I’m so happy and excited. My sister wears glasses and is at university. I have always wanted glasses that help me see well, so I can join my sister at university after I leave school. Now I know my dreams will come true. Thank you so much for coming to my school,” Lyhour beamed.

Building capacity in Cambodia

The project in Cambodia has been designed with sustainable strategies and is delivering eye care in a comprehensive and effective way.

In providing capacity building in eye health screening, training has been conducted for 25 teachers from 15 schools in Phnom Penh, as well as for 10 staff members at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) School Health Department. Eye screening programs are developing in three schools. This will enable trained staff to be aware of eye problems and recognize them in students, teachers and staff. They now have the capacity to be involved in screening activities and refer students to appropriate services.

“I am really happy to be invited by the Brien Holden Foundation to attend the training,” said Vice School Director Mr. Srouch in Phnom Penh. “I think the course is really good and it has given me the skills to be aware of basic eye problems, what signs to look for and when a referral is needed, and I now know the appropriate places to refer the students to.”

This activity is in line with the action plan of the National Program for Eye Health/Ministry of Health to prevent blindness from refractive errors and provide low-vision services through routine screening of school children at secondary and high school levels. The model of screening developed with the MoEYS and teachers in this project can be used in other areas of Cambodia to meet the goals of the National Plan for the Prevention of Blindness.

School Vice Director Mr. Srouch also added that, “I now know with school screenings, I have the skills to identify students and teachers alike who have refractive error or other eye problems. They can then be referred and fitted with a correct pair of glasses. It is a social and charitable contribution to the community by the Foundation and their funding partner Optometry Giving Sight.”

12-year-old Omar Faruk was very excited about his new pair of glasses, which have not only enabled him to see the blackboard clearly, but also improved his batting skills on the cricket field! Omar’s life changed dramatically following an eye examination at the vision screening camp organized by the India Vision Institute (IVI), with support from Optometry Giving Sight, at his government-run school in his locality.

While initially he was rather scared to get his eyes examined, Omar is glad that he mustered courage to follow his classmates.

Omar’s father, a bearer in a small local restaurant, runs his family on a low income and therefore eye care is unfortunately not a priority that he can afford. He was very grateful to the school and to IVI for providing an eye examination and glasses to his son, so he can see clearly without straining his eyes.

Omar’s performance at school has also improved since wearing glasses. In fact, it was his class teacher who first noticed Omar’s problem.

“Thanks to IVI and my school, everything looks clearer and brighter with my glasses,” Omar said with excitement.
“School was very hard for me before I had my glasses. I had to strain my eyes to read from the blackboard which gave me severe headaches. I was not even able to ride my bike.”

Thankfully, that’s now changed!

Sokunvortey lives with her parents and they work long hours.

“I got to know about the eye care services of the Brien Holden Foundation through attending school screening activities which our teacher had announced to all students. I firstly found myself hesitant to join as I was really afraid of having my eyes checked. I think maybe I believed it was only me who had this problem and I needed serious treatment, but now I understand that is not true,” she said.

“After the refractionist checked my eyes, I was told that I had high myopia astigmatism and it was explained that I needed to wear glasses but there was no need for any treatment or surgery. So I breathed a sigh of relief. I feel so much better now. Not only do I not need to worry any more, I can see well and live my life normally again,” Sokunvortey said smiling.

“I am very happy with my glasses. They help me to see everything clearly – especially when travelling anywhere. I can read and look at the teacher and letters on white board very well. Now I know how important glasses are. I would like to suggest to all students to have their eyes tested. Having good vision is the best,” she laughed.

The School Eye Health program currently operating in the communities surrounding Phnom Penh is funded by Optometry Giving Sight.

Building capacity in Cambodia

The project in Cambodia has been designed with sustainable strategies and is delivering eye care in a comprehensive and effective way.

In providing capacity building in eye health screening, training has been conducted for 25 teachers from 15 schools in Phnom Penh as well as for 10 staff members at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) School Health Department. Eye screening programs are developing in three schools. This will enable trained staff to be aware of eye problems and recognise them in students, teachers and staff. They now have the capacity to be involved in screening activities and refer students to appropriate services.

“I am really happy to be invited by the Brien Holden Foundation to attend the training,” said Vice School Director Mr. Srouch in Phnom Penh. “I think the course is really good and it has given me the skills to be aware of basic eye problems, what signs to look for and when a referral is needed, and I now know the appropriate places to refer the students to.”

This activity is in line with the action plan of the National Program for Eye Health/Ministry of Health to prevent blindness from refractive errors and provide low-vision services through routine screening of school children at secondary and high school levels. The model of screening developed with the MoEYS and teachers in this project can be used in other areas of Cambodia to meet the goals of the National Plan for the Prevention of Blindness.

School Vice Director Mr. Srouch also added that, “I now know with school screenings, I have the skills to identify students and teachers alike who have refractive error or other eye problems. They can then be referred and fitted with a correct pair of glasses. It is a social and charitable contribution to the community by the Foundation and their funding partner Optometry Giving Sight.”

Habib is a 13-year-old boy who lives in a village called Khalishapur in northern Bangladesh. He is one of five children in a very poor family. Although Habib’s parents own their simple house, they have no land for cultivating rice or other crops. Habib and his father and brothers must find whatever work they can as day labourers.

In recent years, Habib realized that he could no longer see clearly. He told his parents that he couldn’t see but they thought they were too poor to access any treatment.

However, one day the Symbiosis Primary Eye Care Project (SPECS) held a preschool vision screening in Habib’s neighbourhood. Habib was curious and went along to see what was happening. When he saw that the SPECS staff were checking the students’ eyes, he asked whether they could test his eyes also.

The SPECS staff agreed to examine Habib’s eyes and found that he had a cataract in his right eye. They advised him that he needed to have an operation to restore his sight. Although glad that his vision problem could be cured, Habib and his family were very concerned that with their meagre resources, they would not be able to afford the surgery.

Through their good relationship with a district eye hospital, the staff of SPECS were able to arrange subsided surgery for Habib, as well as transport to and from the hospital. Habib’s surgery was successful and then he received glasses to give him the best possible vision. Now that he can see well, Habib is working to earn an income and is able help his family. He and his family are very thankful to SPECS and to Optometry Giving Sight donors for helping to fund the project.

Finan is one of the 75 students that will eventually graduate as an optometric technician, and she is overjoyed at the opportunity. “I can greatly empathize with those that suffer from avoidable blindness,” she said. “I also had poor vision for two years before receiving help, so I know how difficult it is to live a full and successful life when you can’t read or write because of poor vision. The worst thing of all is that people suffer needlessly – if they had access to an eye examination and a pair of glasses, they would be able to live normally again.”

When Finan heard of the optometry program at Asmara University, she knew she had found her calling in life. “I wanted to spend my life serving those people who struggle with vision problems. Doing work like this makes me feel that I am changing people’s lives for the better, so it is extremely fulfilling.”

“I find the program to be truly fascinating. Providing people with the gift of sight really instils hope in them and encourages them to pursue the dreams they thought were long gone. We give them light in life,” she said.

Finan is very grateful for the opportunity to study to become an optometric technician. “I will be the happiest person in the world when I graduate. I cannot wait to begin my career in optometry,” she concluded.

The current program operating in the optometry department at the Asmara College of Health Sciences in Eritrea is funded by Optometry Giving Sight and supported by the Brien Holden Foundation.