World Sight Day 2017

 Make Vision Count.

See how £5 helped to change Ellen’s life in Zambia.

ELLEN’S STORY

 

Meet Ellen Kasongo, a toddler living in Livingstone, in the southern Province of Zambia.

Before Ellen received treatment, her parents were concerned about her vision as her right eye occasionally turned inwards. When Ellen’s parents heard that a team of volunteers were visiting Livingstone in September 2016 they brought her along for an eye test.

When Ellen was seen by one of our volunteers, they told her parents that she suffered from a condition called a squint, which is caused by an eye attempting to overcome blurred vision and therefore causes it to turn inwards. After being given a full eye test, Ellen was prescribed with a pair of glasses to prevent the right eye from turning. It cost Vision Aid Overseas just £5 to provide Ellen with an eye test and a pair of prescription glasses.

A staggering 640 million people worldwide are disabled simply because they do not have access to an eye test and a pair of prescription glasses. Ninety percent of those affected live in developing countries like Zambia.

Vision Aid Overseas delivers outreach services in remote and isolated communities, where basic health care services are scarce, to help reach and bring affordable eye care services and glasses to Africa’s most vulnerable and neglected people.

Ellen’s parents were keen for a follow up so in March 2017 so, Ellen and her mum travelled 300 miles to be seen! Ellen’s right eye had straightened up and she can now use both eyes together and her parents are happy to see their daughter’s vision corrected.

Ellen’s parents told us:

“We hope that Ellen’s story will allow other children to access the great service that Vision Aid Overseas has been able to provide to my daughter.”