2014 Health Missions
EYEsee is supporting health missions planned for 2014 in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Missions will be conducted in those areas where the poorest of the populations do not have the hope of purchasing their own eyeglasses. People who come to the missions suffer from poor eyesight and blindness as a result of poverty. Your donation of used eyeglasses to the EYEsee ‘2014 Campaign’ will enable many to re-gain productivity and employment.
Nigeria, Africa
The February 13-22, 2014 mission by Mercy International Mission (MIM), an organization that provides basic health care services and general health education to the people of Osi-Ekiti and the neighboring 20 villages in Southwestern Nigeria. Eyeglasses will be distributed at the medical office of MIM located in Osi-Ekiti. Eyeglasses will also be distributed by means of mobile clinic vehicles operated by MIM to reach people in rural areas.
Uganda, Africa
The March mission by PeopleWeaver, a U.S.-based non-profit organization that provides economic assistance, such as microcredit loans, to refugees in the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in Uganda. The aid that they provide also include food, schooling supplies, reading glasses, malaria nets, medicine, communication tools and support for two cooperative grain mills. Since 2011, EYEsee has supported PeopleWeave’s efforts to help refugees in the settlement.
Cameroon, Africa
A year-round mission by a Peace Corps American volunteer who is presently working in a small village in the Southwest region of Cameroon. She is a registered nurse and works in the local healthcare center in Ekombe Bonji. She began her assignment last September and will be in Cameroon until November 2015.
She has assessed that there is a need for eyeglasses among the community members. The village families make their living by farming cocoa, which does not provide much income during the dry season, thus leading to poverty and a lack of proper healthcare. EYEsee’s eyeglasses will allow the village the opportunity to receive better vision and help encourage literacy rate among adults and children alike. The eyeglasses will be distributed in the healthcare center throughout the year. Along with her nursing staff, she will conduct vision tests and match recipients to their closest pair, then teach them how to properly care for the new eyeglasses.
Mexico, Latin America
The August-September mission will be conducted in Juarez, Chihuahua, by Calvary Baptist Church (Montgomery, Illinois) in partnership with Grace Baptist Church (Juarez, Mexico). Three days of clinics are planned for children, adults and the elderly. Members of both churches will be distributing the eyeglasses as part of their ministries.
Vietnam, Asia
The August-September mission by the Vietnam Health Clinic (VHC), a non-profit, student-led organization at the University of Washington that is dedicated to improving healthcare access and services to the underprivileged population of Vietnam. Each year, a group of 50-70 volunteers comprising of health professionals and graduate and undergraduate students travel to the rural Vietnam to provide health care and medicines for destitute people.
Philippines, Asia
The November-December mission by the Mansalay Foundation for Youth Development (MFYD), a non-profit organization that provides support for the youth of Mansalay through a merit-based scholarship program and assists in improving the quality of education. Mansalay is a small town in the Southern Oriental Province in the Philippines. As part of their mission, MFYD conducts an annual vision mission to provide disadvantaged adults in Mansalay who need eyeglasses that they cannot otherwise afford. MFYD contracts a local optometrist to measure people who need eyeglasses and volunteers help distribute the eyeglasses during the clinics.