Vision Action met Aminata when she came to the Kailahun Vision centre in Sierra Leone. One of Vision Action professional volunteers, Jonathan Hall, of Hall & Co Eyewear, was at the same centre completing training on the business model of the Vision centre, which he has been delivering remotely. When Aminata arrived to Kailahun centre, she was no longer able to see the blackboard at school and her studies were suffering.
She had an eye test with Vision Action trained optometric technician Lansana Lahun, who found her to be significantly short sighted. Thanks to Vision Action and Jonathan Hall, another Vision Action trained OT, Patricia, was able to make up glasses for Aminata immediately. When she put her first pair of glasses on for the first time her face lit up with a beautiful smile because she could see the world clearly for the first time. She can now improve at school and achieve all her dreams.
Whilst in Sierra Leone, Jonathan delivered training focused on the detection of glaucoma to eye health workers. In Sierra Leone, glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness and the number one cause of irreversible blindness. There, the disease is aggressive, and clinics often see young patients already totally blind from it, and sometimes see different generations of the same family blind from this disease.
The training Jonathan delivered is supporting a wider project, “Essential Community Eye Care Services in Eastern and Northern Provinces, Sierra Leone”, jointly funded by Optometry Giving Sight, Fundación Visión Mundi, and Hall & Co Eyewear.