Today’s post comes from Catherine. An amazing woman who’s new to the GV2020 team, but already making a huge impact on our mission, and on the lives of Mozambique High Schoolers. Here’s her post:
“The Global Vision team set out this morning to conduct training at the Ministry of Education’s provincial-level Maputo office. Upon arriving, the Provincial School Director expressed a dire need for Global Vision 2020’s training and glasses, explaining that he hoped to cover more schools in the near future – a possibility we both aim to make a reality! After a short walk to the Escola Secundária Herois Moçambicanos (the High School of Mozambique Hero’s), the newly trained officials helped set-up a testing area and we were on our way.
One boy in particular was of special interest to us all. It was immediately apparent that something was horribly amiss. While testing on the top two lines he was consistently making mistakes. He constantly struggled to keep from squinting and he couldn’t resist leaning forward and opening his eyes wide to try and make sense of what he was seeing in front of him. After much back and forth and multiple testing attempts to ensure he comprehended what was being asked of him, it was apparent he was in serious need of glasses.
The technician placed the USee on the boy’s face and the boy immediately began turning the dials. Somewhat surprisingly (though less surprising given his performance on the eye exam) – his prescription read -4 in one eye and -2.25 in the other. It truly was astounding he could perform in school at all! The boy chose his frames, the appropriate lenses were inserted, and within minutes of being retested with his new glasses he was up and out the door. This child alone would have been worth the trip, to see the burden of his poor vision alleviated within minutes. It was a humbling reminder that he is one of millions of kids who live with poor vision, and whose quality of life, safety, educational opportunities, etc., can be greatly improved with the introduction of eyeglasses. The USee kits truly are an enabler that every school should have!”
Keep up the great work Catherine!
