Mission for Vision

September 8^th. I pay a visit to our ‘mother’ club, Shepperton and Sunbury, who meet at the Anchor Hotel in Shepperton Square. We call them our mother club as they were instrumental in launching  Shepperton Aurora, some 17 years ago.  At that time it was felt that the local area could support a breakfast-meeting club, so Aurora was chartered.

                                                  The Anchor Hotel

My visit to Shepperton and Sunbury was not exactly an official visit, but I was there to support their speaker for the evening, local optician Ian Squire.  He was talking about his charity, Mission for Vision, which he established  11 years ago. My club is looking to provide funds for Mission for Vision’s ‘Eye Clinics for Africa’ project.  We hope to achieve this with the assistance of a global grant from Rotary Foundation.  Any grant from Foundation will only match funds already committed by clubs and districts,  so it is important to bring the project  to the attention of as many clubs and Districts throughout the UK and worldwide as possible.  If the support of the Consort  can help oil the wheels of the Charity’s fundraising  efforts, then it will be time well spent.

                                  Limited Resources for Optometry in parts of Africa

I hope that writing about Mission for Vision in this blog, will help in a small way to bring this project to the attention of Rotarians, and others, amongst my readership worldwide.  Shepperton Aurora Rotary Club have been regular supporters of the Charity  in making donations , and as individuals in giving him our old and unwanted glasses.  Ian also receives all glasses left behind on aircraft at Heathrow, and he never ceases to marvel at the expensive brand names, such as Cartier, that people leave behind.  It makes no difference to him as the glasses will end up being worn by someone in a remote corner of Africa, who needs a pair of glasses.

                       The joy of good vision

Using funding from us and others,  and the huge stock of used glasses at his disposal, Ian  has made several trips to Africa and other parts of the world, along with a team of volunteer optometrists, to provide eye testing and prescription glasses to those in need. I have seen pictures taken in places like Burundi, Uganda and Ghana, of enormous queues of people who have travelled miles, and waited patiently for days in order to have what for us would be relatively simple corrections made to their eyesight.  The impact of this work can be life changing, because straightforward tasks like reading suddenly become possible, and employment can be found where somebody was previously unemployable due to poor eyesight.

                                D I Y spectacle repairs

Whilst this work is very valuable, Ian has come to realise that he is only scratching at the surface of the problem, as there are probably millions of people in Africa with no access to basic eye care services.  He has come up with an idea for a sustainable project in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC).  This is a country the size of Western Europe, and does not have a single optometrist in practice there. Those who can afford to do so, fly abroad for eyesight testing and to get prescription glasses.  Everybody else has to manage without.

                                           Chart on a tree

 Mission for Vision have been given access to the whole of DRC by the Government there, to start a program that will involve training and equipping local people to provide basic but essential and effective primary eye care services.  The charity have obtained a building which is currently being renovated and will be ready to receive the equipment that arrives in October.  The building is large enough to accommodate a clinic with three consulting rooms, a training facility with class rooms and library as well as accommodation for students and trainers.

                                                Queues for eye testing in Ghana

The aim is to train up to 8 students at a time over a period of 6 - 9months after which they will be able to do sight testing, screen for glaucoma, dispense glasses and make up glasses, diagnose eye disease and make referrals to the hospital. It is anticipated that the clinic will become self - sustaining after 18 months and students will be enrolled from other parts of the country.  Once trained they will return to their own communities to continue the work.

                                Solar powered lens cutting machine designed by Ian Squire

At the end of the year, graduating students will be given a portable lens cutting machine invented by Ian Squire, and will be able to go out to their own communities to set up in practice. The machine has been designed to operate with solar power, utilising one energy source that is in plentiful supply in DRC.  However, setting  up costs for the project are considerable, hence the need for funding.

                Ian Squire (left) with Ian Bowyer

The meeting at Shepperton and Sunbury was well attended,  and naturally I found myself sitting at the top table, with President Elect Ian Bowyer (the president, Eric Painter was away), and there was also a first time visitor to the club, who I believe is considering joining them. He was no doubt impressed to meet the Consort to the DG on his first ever Rotary visit. I was sitting next to Peter Routley, with Ken Howe, another visitor from Aurora on my other side. Even I can be impressed at times, and I certainly was, when I heard the long list of sports teams formed by Shepperton and Sunbury for the various ‘sports’ organised by the District each year. Not only did they have a team in the table tennis, darts, bowling, bridge, cribbage, dominoes, and possibly others that I have forgotten, but they often had a second and a third team in these events.  What a sporty lot, I thought.  The image was only slightly tarnished when Richard Black, captain of the dominoes team, confided to me that he had only played dominoes once before, and he wasn’t sure about the rules.

                

                                                            Dominoes

The meal was very pleasant.  It comprised a large pork chop served with mash, apple sauce and vegetables, followed by cheesecake. I noticed that instead of dessert, some members were given cheese and biscuits, which I would have liked, but this had to be ordered in advance so I was out of luck.

When the time came for Ian Squire to speak, I thought he did very well. I have heard him speak 4 or 5 times about Mission for Vision, and I think he is getting better each time. On this occasion, and of particular interest to me, he was finally able to bring along a prototype of the portable lens cutting machine he designed, and gave us a demonstration of how easy it was to operate in the field. The idea is that graduates from his training academy in Kinshasa, will be given one of these machines to take back to their own communities. The newly trained optometrists will then be able to give eyesight testing and create prescription glasses for patients on the spot, using solar power. How people’s lives will be transformed!

                             Ian demonstrates the new machine

At the end of Ian’s talk, I stood up as I have done at previous clubs Ian has visited, and gave a Rotary perspective to the Charity, explaining how Aurora have got behind Mission for Vision but many more clubs need to join us if a Global Grant is to be obtained. Shepperton & Sunbury Club, who, like Aurora have been long-standing supporters of Mission for Vision, will no doubt consider this in due course.

                                 The machine in operation

Ian Squire will be speaking at our District Conference in Bristol, and my hope is that other clubs will also want to get behind the project.