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Hello from Tunisia Africa.
For two weeks I was part of an international team of around 20 dedicated individuals working round the clock, helping those a lot less fortunate than us to the precise gift of sight. We were sponsored in large part by LensCrafters and the Lions Club International, both of which did an outstanding job of organizing and sponsoring this mission, as well as other "Gift of Sight" missions to places all around the world. To places where people need us the most, but can ill afford medical help of any kind.
My adventure takes place in and around Tunis Africa. Dateline: April 2000 Tunis Africa
There was somewhat of a "carnival atmosphere" when we arrived as people from miles around heard we were going to be giving eye exams and glasses away. Police arrived to help control the crowd as thousands of people continued arriving for the length of our stay here. Many people we examined here had never seen an eye doctor in their life, and that goes for the young and the elderly. Working with my team we prepared ourselves to receive and examine close to 10,000 people during our stay in this location.
What you see on the floor behind us, is the massive inventory of glasses donated from people all over North America through "LensCrafters". We were ready with our stock of over 30,000 pairs. And frankly we could have used more.
For this little girl this was her very first pair of glasses in her life. The frames and prescription were made possible by people just like you who donated their old pair when they got their new glasses at just about any of the "LensCrafters" locations in North America. "People helping people see better, only at around a thousand at a time." c o o l !
These beautiful women used henna on their hands and
adorned their faces with a different herbal product. "Henna my foot, oh I mean
Would you please henna my foot? I gotta just work harder on my ARABIC".
In our clinic in Gabes, in southern Tunisia, for many of the people we saw here this was their first eye exam of their lives. In this location, that final count for my team was just over 9000 patients in only 5 days. That's a lot of "Next please."
Using the autorefractor (a machine which estimates the distance rx) was just one of the tests we performed for those lucky enough to have made it to this location.
Below is Gift of Sight member Dr. Florian Safner, in the clinic at our site in Gabes, Tunesia
Everyone here gave up their comfortable life, left their homes family and friends, and pushed themselves to extremes. We learned a lot about the people who live here, but most importantly, each and everyone one of us, learned a lot about ourselves.
Now don't get the idea that it was all work and no play. We did take some time out, to relax... Bottom left to right: Kelly Lyons "Optometrist" Larry Grigely "Our mission Computer wizard" Elizabeth Ball, "Optometrist"
I had always heard that camels can be somewhat temperamental and stubborn, but after fifteen or was it twenty rides on him by each any every one of us, that camel was as gentle as a kitten. All he wanted to do was sleep! "Ok everyone, it's just about time to go, so let's all try and remember just where we parked the camel! Oh and remember Joe, if you misbehave and start spitting, you leave us no choice but to inform you, just what tomorrows, meat "du jour" will be. There there, Joe Joe, good camel. Why, is that a little tear I see?" Well that sure beats spit. I guess you just got to know how to talk to the animals. "oh and Joe, repeat after me.. breath-mints"
How bout "sight" seeing.
Back to work!
This women below is another case of someone here, going through her whole life without corrective eyewear of any kind. After examining her, I found her prescription to be quite high. Once here tests were complete and a prescription found, and she had her glasses on for the first time in her life, she looked over at her husband, and began to laugh, uncontrollably. Tears ran down her face as she looked over at him. When I finally asked her "Why are you laughing?" in my broken ARABIC. She told me that, this was the first time in thirty years that she could actually see her husbands face. Then she looked over at him again and this time she began crying. Through the tears and once she had gotten a real good look at him, she said "he looked nothing like the man she had married." Can you i m a g i n e.Lot's of married couples have said that before, but how many meant it so... precisely.
What could I possibly say about being able to give someone the gift of sight, for the fist time in their life? I guess I'd say one picture, speaks louder than just about any of my WORDS.
and "BARAKALAU AFIK!" to you too.
Good Bye from each and everyone involved in this mission, and for all those involved in this type of work worldwide, keep up the good work. And remember your old glasses can be a wonderful gift for someone far away. They will be a gift you give someone, that you don't know. Someone you most likely will never know. But someone who will directly benefit from your act of kindness, every waking hour, of every day. Now that's what I call, real vision! Don't throw away your old glasses,give them away.SEE, you really can... |
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Dr. Florian Safner is an American volunteer who helped admin all the
patient traffic as well as maintain a view of the big picture. When you gotta
get things done, you gotta get Florian. That's Dr. Safner to his frends here.
How
about lunch under a tent in the desert... "The smiles, the good cheer, the
experience was worth every "dinar" we spent. The look on Larry's face when he
found out just what the meat of the day he'd just eaten, priceless."
Remember to bring your appetite and leave you inhabitations at home, just make
make sure you've got, reservations, and maybe some Tums?
We all took turns riding "Joe the Camel." He's the one on
the right, not me, farther right. That's better.
I'm
standing here in the clinic with some of the children waiting for final delivery of their glasses.
In most cases, the prescription of the recycled glasses matched at least that of
the dominant eye. In some cases, especially with half-eye reading glasses for
adults, the donated glasses were completely new. We also learned the necessity of
being creative in matching each in certain cases, so that no one would leave empty-handed.
Especially
in southern Tunesia, we saw an inordinate number of people with extreme
pathology such as overmature cataracts and trachoma, as pictured here. Also
surprising was the number of people needing high lens prescriptions who had
never had glasses before. I as well as some of the members of my team learned how to conduct eye
exams, in the Tunesian Arabic dialect by the end of the 2-week mission. The
vast majority of GOS vision care recipients were very grateful for the care they
received. Many of them would say to us "BARAKALAU AFIK!" which means
"may God bless you!"
