Charity’s vision for Africa

Saturday 02 June 2018

A Jersey optician is off to west Africa next week to work for a charity that helps thousands of people see again.

Dave Baker will be part of a five-strong team from Vision Aid Overseas who’ll be spending a fortnight in Sierra Leone.

They’ll be carrying out eye examinations, screening for eye disease and supplying recycled prescription glasses and sunglasses – many of which have been donated by islanders - to people who have never seen a qualified optician before. Over the last year Vision Aid have given away more than 31,000 pairs of glasses.

Sierra Leone has only two qualified opticians for a population of 7million people and the region’s healthcare structure and economy were severely affected by the Ebola virus outbreak in 2016.

Speaking about the trip, Dave said: “The work the charity does really has an enormous, positive impact, making a real difference to the lives of so many people living in Africa by setting up Vision Centres and providing outreach services to those in remote communities. It’s incredible to be able to put unwanted, old spectacles to such good use and to be able to help those who otherwise wouldn’t have the means to correct their vision.”

Pictured: Optician Dave Baker is looking forward to his third trip to Africa with Vision Aid Overseas.

This will be Dave’s third trip to Africa with Vision Aid Overseas. He travelled to Burkina Faso and Ethiopia previously, leaving behind his hygienic, air-conditioned clinic to work in stiflingly hot conditions in makeshift clinics - in some cases sheds that didn’t even have electricity or water.

Dave commented: “In Burkina Faso we came across several cases of blinding eye disease, conditions like glaucoma and tropical eye disease that we just don’t see here, so it was really important to get them diagnosed and help them get the treatment they needed.”