The gift of sight is precious, even more to those who do not have the resources to improve their eyesight.

On May 7, The Ruya Project, Ashraful Aid and Alimdaad Foundation collaborated to assist orphanages and old age homes in the West Rand district with eye screening and medical care. Homes from Kagiso and the surrounding communities were invited to the event that was held at the Chief Mogale Hall.

The University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) optometry department, Invisible Guardians Foundation, together with OneSight EssilorLuxottia Foundation and Al Imdaad (Vision4Life) also contributed to making this day a success.

Zaahira Essay Jogee, the founder of The Ruya Project and coordinator for the event, said they screened 113 elderly and children. He added that 97 of these residents presented symptoms of visual impairment and of those, eight were referred for further treatment and five were referred for cataract intervention.

Eye testing services were conducted with Sunglass Hut employees and UJ optometry students volunteering.”

But the checkups did not end there, they also offered health talks and exercise programmes from community nurses and dentistry services from Invisible Guardian and dental volunteers.

The Al Imdaad (Vision4Life) Foundation also distributed hygiene packs, but the cherry on top was when they presented an eyecare-themed puppet show for all the children.

“I would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to the Ashraful Aid team for assisting us in coordinating and planning this event. We would also like to thank the team for their support in ensuring the event was a success,” Zaahira concluded.