Jessica Asinvim is a 14-year-old girl and a pupil of OLL Girl’s JHS School in the Kassena Nankana Municipal of the Upper East Region. She wants to be a medical doctor so she can take care of sick people like her grandmother who is visually impaired.
Like most students, Jessica rides her bicycle to school each day, but she is a reserved child and hardly talks in class according to her teacher. Jessica’s teacher moved her desk from the middle of the class to the front row because she squints each time she needs to read from the chalkboard. But, moving her closer to the chalkboard and other efforts did not seem to solve the problem as she continued squinting while reading from the board.
Overtime, Jessica’s squinting seemed a normal behaviour, but of course it certainly wasn’t. Jessica and her teacher were excited when a team of PEC nurses came to her school to conduct eye screening. She failed the Visual Acuity test and was immediately referred to the school triage.
She was sent to the optometrist stationed a couple of kilometres away from her school for the field refraction, Jessica could not hide her joy when it was time for her to select a frame of her choice!
“At first, I thought everyone saw things the way I did, but, I have really suffered in class”, Jessica said. “Sometimes I am unable to see the blackboard clearly. As a result, I spend a lot of time copying notes from the blackboard; I am usually the last person to finish writing my notes, to the annoyance of my classmates who think that I am too slow and slowing the whole class.
“Thankfully, my teachers are very understanding and will always insist that I finish writing the notes before they clean the blackboard.
“Madam Elizabeth even asked me to move to the front of the class which is nearer to the blackboard, which was helpful but didn’t solve the problem. I don’t know why I couldn’t see well because I had no pain in my eyes.
“After the examination, the doctor gave me a pair of glasses, I chose the most beautiful pair and I’m glad it helped me see the letters the way they should be.”