Better Vision across the islands of Fiji

 "There you go, Mere (pronounced Mary)" "What do you think?" 

Mere was silent as she looked around the community center where we had set up our temporary eyeglass clinic. Suddenly she jumped up and ran outside. She began looking all around, looking up at the trees, looking at the buildings around her and a big smile broke across her face. 

"Wow,  I can see!"

This was not a typical reaction, we do get a lot of smiles and happy reactions, but we really enjoy giving someone like Mere the gift of better vision. We so enjoy the look on her face as she begins to realize what she has been missing and will now get to enjoy.

We have been giving away glasses throughout Fiji and Tonga. If you missed our first post on our giveaway in Tonga you can click here.  Through the Global Vision 2020 program we found a way to match a glaring need with a solution we can handle as we travel to so many remote areas while aboard Rhapsody. These past 8 years we have regularly noticed large gaps in medical, dental and optical accessibility. Because of Global Vision 2020's innovative program we were able purchase , with the help from many of you, a set of frames, lenses and readers and complete our online training to make this possible. 

We have now been able to disperse glasses in two villages in Tonga and six villages in Fiji and set up shop in resorts for five days, also in Fiji, while locals would get out the word to family and friends in the area.

So far we have seen about 250 people,  most of them have needed distance glasses and many of them have also needed reading glasses. We have begun to notice that we are running low on the most commonly needed lenses and readers. We are considering purchasing new inventory as we intend to continue this.

The acting chief of the village of Dalconi in the Lau group of islands in Fiji with his new glasses

We have set up our make shift clinics in various community halls, in rooms provided at resorts and on a variety of covered porches, wherever the village has for us to set up. There are some people that come to us with eye problems way beyond what we can help such as Glaucoma, Cataracts or loss of the vision in one eye. Ideally these people should go see an optometrist,  but the reality is that is not a possibility.

One of the most common thing asked for is sunglasses, but unfortunately we do not have any of these to give away, and if we did, they would be gone very fast as most people would like a pair.

When we go to a village we request a helper. Someone who can communicate with those who are not as comfortable speaking English, and someone who can help organize the people who are waiting. On several occasions it has been the chief's wife who has helped us. This is particularly good on several levels, not just in the organization and running of the clinic, but she then sees the change in what people can see and can encourage them to wear the glasses after we have gone. There is definitely peer pressure to overcome and it helps when a person with some standing in the community can help pass on the message. 

It is always encouraging to return to a village, or have cruising friends follow in our wake and report that the glasses are being worn.

This is a picture that was sent to us of someone seen wearing her glasses several months later. 

We see it as a rewarding opportunity to get off the boat and engage with the local people living along the shoreline near where we are anchored. They tend to be long days for us, and we usually leave tired, and always gratified.