Opticians get ready for Africa aid trips

TWO opticians from North Yorkshire are heading to Africa to embark on vital sight-saving projects with an international charity.

John Broadberry, the store director of Specsavers in Harrogate, is heading to Eritrea in Ethiopia on a solo trip for the charity Vision Aid Overseas.

During his week-long visit, he will be teaching three South African optometrists how to make spectacles so they are able to test and fit local people with glasses.

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His colleague, Caroline Clarke, who has worked at Specsavers for 17 years, is also travelling to Ghana in West Africa for two weeks.

She will be working with a small team from Vision Aid Overseas to train final-year optometry students in Kumasi.

She will also be venturing out to rural areas to supervise the students as they provide eyecare to people in remote communities.

Ms Clarke said: “A large number of people in the developing world don’t have access to eye examinations or glasses and many people find they are unable to work as a result of being deprived of a basic sense that we often take for granted.

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“By training optometrists in the developing world we can help to provide access to eyecare which is likely to improve many people’s lives dramatically.”

Vision Aid Overseas is an international charity dedicated to transforming access to eyecare services in developing countries.

The charity recycles unwanted spectacles in the UK by sending them with teams of optical professionals to the developing world who set up clinics, screen large numbers of patients and provide appropriate eyewear.

The Eritrea project will be Mr Broadberry’s fourth excursion with Vision Aid Overseas and Ms Clarke’s trip to Ghana will mark her ninth expedition with the charity.

Later this year she will also travel to Ethiopia and Zambia, where Specsavers is funding a dedicated eyecare clinic and teaching facility, with the charity.