A Hillgrove School student is collecting hundreds of used glasses this month as part of an international effort to help people in Malawi see.
École Hillgrove School Grade 9 student Evan Logan is collecting used glasses in preparation for a trip to Malawi later this year with Canadian Vision Care — a registered charity that gives free eye care to residents of developing nations.
“I thought maybe I’d get a hundred from my school, if I was lucky, but I have 300 already,” he said.
Evan’s mother, Anne Logan, said Evan started collecting glasses at his school in January and put out a call for them on Facebook in mid-February. Donations have been pouring into the collection boxes at Hillgrove School and the Logan home ever since.
Flying eye doctors
Evan signed on to this trip to Malawi last fall after hearing about it from his uncle, Calgary optometrist Jason Pearce. Pearce’s son was unavailable for this year’s trip, so he invited Evan instead.
Evan, who has never been outside of Canada apart from Hawaii, said he was excited to take this chance after hearing many stories of his uncle’s past trips with Canadian Vision Care.
“I thought it would be a really inspiring to help others in need.”
Canadian Vision Care sends volunteer optometrists to places like Malawi, Jamaica, and Cambodia about five or 10 times a year to give free eye exams, surgeries, treatments, and glasses to people that can’t afford them, said Pearce, who has been involved with the group for 25 years and sits on its board of directors. (They also hold free clinics in Edmonton and Calgary.)
“We’re helping people to see that don’t have that opportunity otherwise,” he said.
While most of the glasses the group distributes were donated (having been repaired and sorted by Lions Club volunteers), some were brand new. About 15 per cent of them were custom-made in Canada and mailed back to their recipients.
“It’s really quite cool when we have a good prescription matched to someone, and we’ll pull out this beautiful pair of Gucci glasses somebody’s donated here in Alberta and we’ll give them to somebody that doesn’t have shoes on,” Pearce said.
Pearce said this upcoming trip involved about 18 people, including two optometrists, eight University of Waterloo optometry students, himself, two of his kids, and Evan. The group would spend about two weeks treating patients in communities around Mzuzu (a city in northern Malawi).
“We’ll be in a new spot every day,” Pearce said, with Evan tasked with distributing glasses, running equipment, administering eye-drops, and performing eye-chart tests.
Some of the patients Evan will meet will walk five miles just to reach the clinic, and will have never been to an optometrist in their lives, Anna said. Many have eye problems so severe that they can’t work or see the blackboard at school.
Anne said her sister once told her about how one young patient reacted to getting glasses from her on a previous trip.
“She put the glasses on, and his eyes came into focus and his face lit up because it was the first time he could actually see,” she said.
“It makes a world of difference.”
Evan predicted that he would feel very happy helping out a great cause on this trip.
“Just seeing [patients] react when they can see for the first time in a while is going to be heartwarming.”
Evan’s trip to Malawi runs from April 18–May 5. Used glasses and summer clothes for youths five and under can be deposited in the donation boxes at Hillgrove School and 15 Lambert Cres.
Visit canadianvisioncare.com for more on this initiative.
