Published: Thursday, 17th July, 2008 08:20
Gift of sight in Ethiopia
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A BIG-HEARTED Haddington optician is set to help thousands of impoverished Africans receive the gift of sight.
Pamela McClean, 34, who works for Montgomery Optometrists in Sidegate, will be travelling to Ethiopia with the charity Vision Aid Overseas (VAO) in September as part of a voluntary seven-strong team to work at a small hospital in Butajira, about two hours’ drive south of Addis Ababa.
The VAO team will be based at the hospital, but travelling to different rural areas each day to set up direct service clinics. The clinics will allow Mrs McClean and her colleagues to carry out eye examinations and dispense glasses to those in need. They will also be teaching in the hospital doing some basic training with novice refractionists.
Working five days a week, the team estimate they will see between 2,400 and 3,000 patients during the two weeks they are there.
Said Mrs McClean, of West Linton: “I was involved in a similar project to Uganda in August 2006, when I saw first-hand how desperate the situation is in many parts of Africa.
“The majority of the population have no access to eyecare as only the very rich living in major cities can afford it.”
Mrs McClean has to raise £600 of the £2,000 it costs to send one optometrist on a project like this. Anyone wishing to make a donation or hand over old glasses, can do so at the practice in Sidegate.
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