VOLUNTEER OPTOMETRIC SERVICE TO HUMANITY (VOSH)

Volunteer Optometric Service to Humanity’s primary mission is to facilitate the provision and the sustainability of vision care worldwide for people who can neither afford nor obtain such care.  VOSH is an international organization that has chapters around the world.  The World Service Committee granted VOSH $2,931.82 to offset the costs of purchasing and shipping eyeglasses, eye drops and other materials for the January 2013 mission to Nicaragua.  Mary Harp-Jirschele is a volunteer for VOSH and went on the mission trip to El Ayote, Nicaragua.  Access to running water does not exist and electricity is sporadic.  Some houses are wired with electricity.  There are no streets or roads. The group traveled by bus on a muddy path sometimes teetering along the mountain to get to the village.  This is the third time Mary has traveled with VOSH to Nicaragua with eye doctors, opticians and other volunteers.  Dr. Mark Ebben, a Rotarian and Optometrist from Kaukauna, led this trip.  They brought 1500 pairs of glasses mostly bifocals and another 1500 of distance glasses were shipped.  Unfortunately, the shipped glasses were locked up in customs.  When the Bishop of Nicaragua learned of this, he marched over to the airport and the eyeglasses were released.  The glasses are ordered and bought from the Lions Club and Shopko donated 500 sunglasses.  The team worked inside of an empty building one half the size of a basketball court.  Everything got moving at about 3:00 a.m.  The group would go to the outhouse, take a shower, put on damp clothes and try to find toiletries in the dark.  Some days, 300 people would be lined up outside the door.  People traveled by bus, horse, donkey or walk for a day for the opportunity to better their sight.  People were asked to fill out a simple form then visit Mary who gave them the acuity check.  Each person has their own style of reading the chart.  Others sit on a bench watching how the check is given.  The next station is the close up acuity check to see if bifocals are needed.  Then they proceed to the refractor machine which is similar to a view master to take pictures of the eye.  The eye doctor then determines what the person needs.  One night the group was invited to watch television at one of the houses in the area.  When they got to the home, there was a card table with a 9” black and white television with 5 resin chairs in front of it so that they could watch the Patriot versus the Ravens football game.  On January 22, Mary wrote that she saw 5-6 damaged or sightless eyes.  There was an endless stream of people and she did not know what day it was.  There were lots of challenges.  A 2 year old girl came with her parents on horseback because corn flour got into the girls eyes and they were raw.  A 25 year old man had the glasses he got when he was 5 years old.  Another was blind in one eye and had a disease in the other.  A 105 year old man came in on donkey for his first eye exam.  They gave him some glasses and told him that they were guaranteed for the rest of his life.  When the group goes on these mission trips, they bring balloons, pencils, crayons, stickers and paper umbrellas for the children.  The children follow and interact with them wherever they go.  When the group leaves, they try to leave behind what they can for the people in the village.  The per capita income is $450 per year.  They gave the people in El Ayote the gift of sight and showed them that someone in this world cares about them.