Vanitha
There are millions of children and adults in Sri Lanka who are functionally blind because they don’t have access to an eye examination and a pair of glasses. Vanitha is one of the lucky ones who can now see thanks to a pair of glasses she received during a visit by ICEE Optometrist Nina Tahhan.
Nina remembers her experience examining Vanitha:
“Vanitha is a young girl from Sri Lanka I will never forget. She could see just 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) in front of her (a -10.00D myope) and had never had her eyes examined before. Communication was generally difficult so I wasn’t prepared for the extent of her problem. I thought I must have been doing something wrong when I was putting stronger and stronger lenses in the trial frame and not getting a positive response from her. It wasn’t until I saw tears streaming down her face at -9.00D that I realized I was on the right track!”
Funding from Optometry Giving Sight and others has provided eye exams and glasses to more than 30,000 Sri Lankans following the devastating 2004 tsunami. For an update on the work being done in this region, see the Sri Lanka Project Report.
