Optical Dispensers Australia (ODA) has reported that its inaugural outreach to Fiji was a huge success, screening approximately 1,300 people and smashing its target of 300 eye screens over four days.
The outreach was a collaboration between ODA, Opticare – The Eye Centre – a local eye clinic, and Fijian dispensing optician Sylvester Prasad, with the aim of providing better vision and education around eye care to remote villages.
Twelve members of ODA – 10 dispensers and two optometrists – participated in the program at the end of July. Hosted by the College of Theology and Evangelism Fiji, they stayed on the outskirts of Lautoka, the second largest city in Fiji.
Armed with pre-cut spectacles from +6.00 to –6.00, dispensing and screening tools, as well as a range of frames and uncut astigmatic lenses, the team travelled several hours by car every day to different schools in remote villages, ODA said.
“Many simply don’t have enough money for their daily essentials like food and electricity, let alone…to pay for eye tests and glasses”
ODA said that while students at the schools were being screened, word spread to others in the community, with families and people from surrounding villages arriving in the hope of getting their eyes checked.
“Approximately 40% of the population in Fiji live below the poverty line… they survive off less than AU$2.15 a day,” said Luke Yong, one of the ODA volunteers. “Many simply don’t have enough money for their daily essentials like food and electricity, let alone… to pay for eye tests and glasses.”
In total, the team screened approximately 1,300 people and dispensed 407 pairs of glasses – a number much higher than the 300 they had originally planned on screening.
“Our interactions with the locals were nothing short of amazing,” said Mr Yong.
“Team members were invited back to local homes for dinner (which we politely declined), hugs and handshakes were plentiful, and the level of gratitude, kindness and hospitality shown made it more than worthwhile.”
The ODA project was made possible thanks to the twelve ODA member volunteers who generously donated their time and skills, Opticare – The Eye Centre Fiji, Christian Helps Fiji, and ODA’s various project sponsors including:
Hoya Australia, CR Labs, Tokai Optical, Opticare, ProOptics, ZEISS, Hilco Vision, ACOD, Specsavers Launceston, and Teachers Eyecare.
