In a few days, the project dealing with children‘s glasses “Good seeing – better learning” will enter the hot phase on site at the Phaung Daw Oo Monastic High School (PDO.) After months of intense preparation, the two most important people in charge will start work in Mandalay. First at PDO itself, as it doubtlessly offers the best working conditions. In the ophthalmic clinic there is a darkened room for the visual tests as well as short ways for the local staff (book-keeping, organization).
It took me a long time to find a photo of someone wearing glasses among the hundreds of photos I have taken in Myanmar so far. In the end, I found one taken in a two-man bookbinding shop at Seikyo market.
Glasses are a rare commodity in Myanmar and in statistics, wearers of glasses are totally underrepresented. Worldwide, about 5 % of all children suffer from debility of sight, but by far not every twentieth Burmese child wears glasses.
This will change in the next months, at least at PDO and some monastic schools in and around Mandalay. After the first phase of the project, hundreds of other children will be able to take a closer look at their surroundings. In a series of visual tests that will take about a month, the eyesight of 5-9 year-old schoolchildren will be examined. The results will then be sent to Dr. Peter Kaupke and his team of the H.I.T. foundation who will make the diagnosis.
Based on the diagnostic findings, glasses will be made if necessary. The result will presumably be hundreds of glasses which will be sent to our office at PDO. After this, the delivery of the glasses will be organized.
The project implies high logistical expenses which we want to tackle together and which need a lot of financial support. We have set up a Paypal donation button on our project website. If you donate through Paypal, you automatically get a donation receipt because we know your address. If you send your donation to the regular bank account of our association, you have to indicate “children’s glasses” as the reason for payment and include your address, so we can issue a donation receipt.
We thank the donors who enable young people at the beginning of their school career to have the same chances, without any visual learning disability, as those who have no debility of sight, and all this completely free of charge for those whose glasses are “pescribed”.
Here, we will inform you – at least once a week – about the progress of the project
7.11.2017 Karl Bruch ( Foto: Karl Bruch) Translation: Doris Shokat