Emmanuel
When a team of optometrists from Sight Savers International (SSI) and International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE) visited a village in Malawi, Africa, they found 120 children in a program for the blind. However, after being examined, they found that only seven of the children were permanently blind.
How and why could that happen? Most of the children had never had an eye examination and simply did not know that a pair of glasses would allow them to see. The remaining 113 children had easily correctable visual impairments – 36 of the children only needed a pair of glasses to be able to see well. Can you imagine living in one of the poorest countries in Africa, having to fight against the desperate cycle of poverty, and having any small opportunities that you may have had taken from you because you, and your family, thought you were blind? Then imagine having your eyes tested for the very first time and finding out that all you really needed to see was a pair of glasses.
Forty-eight of the children examined had some form of permanent vision impairment, however, the team helped to restore some of their sight with glasses and simple optical aids. The other children? They needed only minor treatment for a variety of conditions.
This situation is repeated across Africa and many parts of Asia where children are being robbed of the chance to learn, and as they get older, of the chance to work and provide for their families.
Emmanuel was one of the children to be rescued from a life of unnecessary blindness. Professor Brien Holden, Chair of Optometry Giving Sight, met Emmanuel while visiting his village and recounts this meeting:
“Emmanuel is a bright and engaging 20-year-old young man who spent three years in first grade at school and two years in every other grade until a teacher sent him to a SightSavers International clinic to have his –16.00D myopia corrected. Every year for the next four years he flew through school. When I met him in 2005, he had lost his glasses and for the last two years was back to reliance on other children to see for him. He was labeled a trouble-maker in school because he had to ask his friend what the teacher had written on the board, but really he just wanted to learn. The look of overwhelming delight on Emmanuel’s face as his eyes focused with his new glasses will stay with me forever. He always knew he was okay mentally and that the problem was his vision. Now with his glasses, he can really see his future. Emmanuel wrote a letter to me and to all of us involved with Optometry Giving Sight whose support helped fund the team of Optometrists who visited his village, to say thank you.”
