By Keith Vass | Saanich News | For Canadian kids, getting your eyes checked is just part of growing up. In Uganda, it just doesn’t happen. It’s why many children in that African nation never know why they’re struggling in class. “Since they have never been tested, they wouldn’t be able to tell if its because of an eye problem,” said Jolly Nyeko, who is completing a PhD in early childhood development at the University of Victoria.

Fifteen years ago, Nyeko founded the Ugandan charity Action for Children. It’s grown to help some 15,000 children, with a network of 34 early learning centres, many in rural parts of the country where there are no eye doctors.

In January, a Saanich optometrist will go to them. Cadboro Bay Optometry Clinic owner Dr. Amanda Weinerman and her assistant Maryjean Morrison are set to travel to the East African country with a briefcase-sized field exam kit and thousands of donated frames. Weinerman already has a list of 1,500 patients waiting to see her — most of them children. With just two weeks to see them all, it will mean starting working from dawn until dusk.

“There is a huge need there. They don’t have any other care — and you do feel it’s a drop in the bucket,” she said.

It’s Weinerman’s first trip to Africa, but not the first time she’s worked in remote communities. In the past, she’s volunteered at clinics in northern Newfoundland and Labrador, travelling by skidoo to communities that hadn’t seen an eye doctor in five years.

The Cadboro Bay community has already thrown itself behind the trip — scores of people have donated used glasses , putting them in donation boxes at local schools, the Cadboro Bay Pharmacy and Weinerman’s clinic.

Framemaker Rodenstock also pitched in 1,000 children’s frames.

The adult glasses have been checked, tested and labelled with their prescriptions — those will be handed out to patients on a best-match basis. But for children, lenses will have to be ground in the capital Kampala.

“Children need to have custom made lenses,” Weinerman said. To cover the cost of that, there’s a fundraiser planned for tonight (Nov. 13).

With an African dinner, entertainment including a puppet show, dancing and the Gettin’ Higher Choir and a silent auction, tickets for the dinner are $10 each or $25 for a family. Tickets are available at the Cadboro Bay Optometry Clinic and Cadboro Bay Pharmacy. The dinner is Friday, Nov. 13 at St. George’s Church, 3909 St. George’s Ln. But Weinerman says she’ll be happy to accept donations at any time, made payable to the Jolly Nyeko Foundation of Canada, at her clinic, or at the pharmacy.

kvass@vicnews.com

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