We have recently returned from Ghana, volunteering with Unite for Sight for 20 days in December, 2010. It was one of the most valuable experiences we have had. Never before had we seen a day, nor seen one doctor perform more than 50 eye surgeries in one day.
Before arriving, we not only each fundraised at least $1600 as a direct donation to Unite for Sight to sponsor surgeries and outreach programs, but also collected over 500 reading and sunglasses each for distribution in Ghana to provide much needed eye care to rural communities living in poverty. These glasses were transported in our luggage so as to minimise unnecessary shipping costs. It is these glasses that Rotary DIK generously helped us collect. The initiative for volunteers to take glasses in their luggage allows rural communities to have access to essentially life-changing spectacles and sunglasses who otherwise would not be able to obtain them due to insufficient resources, poverty and the sheer lack of access to medical care. Rotary DIK has imprinted much improvement into the lives of many in Ghana who rely on their eyesight for their livelihood.

Once there, we worked with a health team led by local optometrists and nurses and other volunteers from the US and Canada. Every weekday, the team of local staff and international volunteers, headed by an optometrist, would embark on a 3-5 hour road trip to villages around Ghana, where lack of resources has led to countless cases of preventable blindness.

As volunteers, we personally helped to register, screen visual acuity and dispense medication and glasses to the communities. Each day, we would screen between 100-200 patients, young and old. On our first day on outreach to a village, we helped to screen 127 patients. This was the lowest number of patients ever screened at this village when Unite for Sight runs an outreach there!

Following visual acuity tests, patients are examined by the local optometrist who also prescribes medications as well as reading/distance glasses. Patients are then directed to the "dispensing table" where volunteers help them try on glasses and explain how to use eye drops.

The local optometrist also refers patients to the Crystal Eye clinic or North Western clinic in Accra when medications and glasses cannot correct their problems in vision. Here, patients receive free cataract or pterygium surgeries sponsored by direct donations to Unite for Sight. In this photo, patients are waiting for their eye surgeries after receiving local anaesthetics.

Dr Clarke, one of the local ophthalmologists completed more than 50 surgeries in a single day! Each surgery is witnessed by a volunteer, (we take turns to enter the theatre) who then signs a logbook as confirmation that the surgery was completed for Unite for Sight sponsorship.

Many patients are very nervous during the surgery, but at the end, are very appreciative! We have gained insight into the beautiful Ghanaian culture and met some highly motivated, resourceful health professionals. We will be forever inspired by the bottomless generosity and sincerity that we saw in Ghana, both from the local people as well as those that we collaborated with. It certainly was a fulfilling experience and being able to directly impact positive change in the lives of people across the globe was amazing. We hope to continue learning more about global health and to volunteer abroad.

We would once again like to thank you for your dedicated support and enthusiasm. The trip to Ghana would not have been successful without you. It was not only Rotary DIK's tangible support with spectacle and sunglasses donations, but the encouragement that was given to us by Rotary DIK truly instilled in us passion and excitement to travel to Ghana. We will never forget the support and enthusiasm generously offered to us.

Kind Regards,
Kylie Ngu and Lucy Deng