Whether it’s for reading, driving, or seeing the world clearly eye glasses give us a sense of security. We first heard of the non-medical eye exam program when we were traveling on our first 4North assignment in Kenya, Africa. It was there that we met Dr. Gordon Mendenhall, who has a partnership with a great organization called iTec USA.
We watched Dr. Mendenhall perform hundreds of eye exams in a village called Haji. Like most developing communities, they have no access to healthcare, eye exams or even eye glasses. In fact, it’s common that most of the people we service have never seen a set of eye glasses.
Imagine living a life with blurry vision and not having a solution. 4North wanted to be a part of this solution so we accepted the challenge of servicing the people and training our volunteers. We continue to modify our training so our volunteers can step in when traveling with us.
They have an understanding of reading the charts, eye glasses and gauging the best possible fit. In three years, we have serviced 5 countries and helped fit thousands of people. 4North has worked with ages young as 12 up to 110 years old.
At 110, Consuela has never had her eyes checked nor does she have access to eye glasses. It was an absolute honor and privilege to help Consuela see the world clearly for the first time. We are thrilled to be offering this amazing program and opportunity to the people of developing communities. A huge thank you goes out to our supporters who continue to make this happen.
