How Glasses Make a Difference
Sadam Hussain, 27, a lab technician prepares lenses at the Optical Lab established with the support of CBM at the Sindh Institute of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences in Pakistan. CBM's approach and programmatic work in eye care, in partnership with others, is to improve access to inclusive, comprehensive and integrated eye health services in Pakistan.
CBM
The CBM initiative 'We Light Up Eyes' through Essilor and the Vision Catalyst Fund provides people in Pakistan with glasses delivered by SIOVS.
The people in the stories were provided with get glasses by the CBM initiative 'We Light Up Eyes' through Essilor and the Vision Catalyst Fund and delivered through SIOVS.
Glasses are cheap and readily available. They make the difference between being able to work or not. They enable you to support yourself and participate in life as you should be able to. No one should have to struggle to get them.
CBM
As a Head Police Constable, Mr Mashooq Ali Solangi from Sindh, Paksitan, relies on his vision.
With parents, five children and four siblings to support with his salary, getting his eyes checked and buying glasses were not high on his list of priorities. So for three years he struggled with increasingly severe headaches. Reading documents, using his mobile phone or even reading a newspaper became problematic.
By chance, he heard about the Sindh Insitute of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (SIOVS) and decided to go for an eye examination. When it was indeed, shown that he needed glasses, he decided not to spend the money since there were so many other things he had to pay for.
It was only when he learned that he was eligible for free glasses under a programme administered by CBM, supported by Essilor and the Vision Catalyst Fund, and implemented delivered by SIOVS, that he agreed to be fitted for new glasses.
The clear vision has transformed his working life and he can now read a newspaper.
"I can now do my work more efficiently and read and sign documents without hesitation. I have recommended others to have their eyes checked."
CBM
Mrs Nanny has done fine embroidery on clothes and pillowcases all her life. Her skilled work enabled her to support herself and her family, but for the past six years, when her eyesight began to fail, she could barely thread a needle.
Not knowing where to go for help, she eventually went to the nearest hospital, but when she learned that there was no eye department there, she went home discouraged.
A relative who had heard about SIOVS gave her the money to travel there and she had her eyes tested. When she found that she needed glasses, she told the doctor that she could not get them because she could not afford them. She was delighted when she received free glasses.
Back at work, she reports;
"I feel that my vision is the same now as it was when I was young, and with the clear vision, my embroidery is the same as it was in the early days of my work."