NGO works hard to preserve the gift of seeing

Having eyesight is not something we will have until we are old, that’s why Anton Poplett is on a mission to help African children preserve their eyesight for years to come.

Poplett together with his wife, daughter and friends Cam Stuart and Karl Danneberg are helping children to see again by helping them get their eyes tested. Eyeglasses are also provided to those who might need them, at no cost.

When some of these eyeglasses are left, some are given to school children to wear them so they can protect their eyes from getting damaged.

He wrote on his website and said it was the little things like having eyesight which made him to do the kind of work he does today.

“Every human has a story, some don’t tell it and some go out of the way to find it. That’s where I found myself, looking to help people that don’t have the ways and means to the simplicity of eye-sight, water, shoes,” he wrote.

They are doing this by visiting African countries in what is known as overlanding were people who want to have their eyes tested or screened are invited to a free screening is done on a makeshift site. This is done for people, mostly children, who might be losing their vision but can’t afford to see an optometrist.

Through the manufacturing company, Global Vision 2020, Poplett is changing people’s lives by giving them eyeglasses that will help them see better.

But for the team some challenges were faced in 2020 as the covid-19 was hitting most places they would travel too, this meant more money was needed to sustain the project while keeping everyone safe including those benefiting from the project.

The work Poplett and his team do, sometimes, work in very dangerous places where they are met by wild animals roaming around the sites.

Poplett told SA Good News in an interview that in some of these expeditions they have encountered these wild animals on the road, making it hard for the team to move on the roads, which delays their mission.

He told the news site that they had spent about two years planning the Borbirwa Eye Project. Before that, in another project, the team went to schools that were around the Okavango Delta district to deliver multiple pairs of glasses.

“But now, he wanted to go to the six main schools in the Borbirwa wild Tuli block region. Here, traffic jams are different, as they involve wildlife, like elephants. Leopards and lions are also to be seen. Poplett had to spend some time preparing for this journey, as the traffic jams are combined with bad roads and bad phone reception too. Luckily, the adventure started smoothly, at least until they went to their first camp on the Limpopo River’s banks after dark,” the article said.

Editor’s note:

Men and women have made it their problem to see to it that more children don’t lose their eyesight. This selfless act is one that should inspire us to want to give a gift that can protect us from not enjoying life to the fullest.

Description:

Global Vision 2020 was founded with the aim of ensuring that less or no children go blind. Thorough screening and testing is done to see if these children are not at risk of losing their eyesight and if they are eye care manufactured by the company are provided for free. These eyeglasses will help them maintain a better vision.

Editor: Thato Mahlangu

Project manager: Anirlé de Meyer