Life is like a jungle sometimes! And you have to keep on your toes and your eyes peeled for danger! This is difficult to do if you have poor eyesight. The following video shows what happens if you don't have eyeglasses for vision problems.
Pray for the organization that has collected thousands of glasses for Haiti; that they can find an organization to distribute them to the many people here in Haiti who need glasses. At all the medical clinics we host there are always requests for people asking for help to be able to see better. Pray for eyecare missions working in Haiti and also for teams and organizations to open doors to send eyeglasses here. The next article shows the desire of an eyecare company in Canada to help Haiti and facing obstacles of getting the help to the people.
A SORRY SPECTACLE
(Ottawa Citizen) - By Greg Markey
Logistics stymie project to send eyeglasses to Haiti
The efforts of a relief project that collected thousands of used eyeglasses for Haitians rebuilding after last year's earthquake have been thwarted because the project's neophyte organizers haven't been able to figure out how to get the glasses to the country safely.
Laurier Optical started a campaign in February 2010 called the Haiti Vision Relief Project. The company pledged $1 million in eyewear and eyecare to Haiti, and collected about 25,000 sets of old glasses from their customers and the public through donation boxes in its 35 stores. Over a year later, none of the refurbished glasses have restored the vision of Haitians. The project has been unable to receive logistical help from NGOs or government agencies to ensure the teams being sent to distribute the glasses are safe and secure.
"We are still ready to go, to continue the project. The product is sitting on the floor. It's very sad," says Tony Kechichian, president of Laurier Optical.
Of all the glasses donated, about 10,000 of them have been restored and are sitting in boxes waiting to be shipped with a team of volunteer ophthalmologists and support staff. Each pair has been cleaned and fitted with new lenses.
"All we want is safety and security. We don't want to end up having our people going there, getting sick, or never coming back," Kechichian said.
Coordinators for the project contacted MPs, the Red Cross, several government departments, the Canadian Forces, and the Haitian Embassy, to no avail. They even contacted CNN, with hopes they might work with the TV network to get help from the U.S. government.
A small group went to Haiti to try to work something out on their own, but determined they would not be able to send a full team without help.
They were told by the Canadian Forces and the Red Cross that priority was being given to the shipment of food and support for medical doctors. Then, as the troubled presidential elections and the cholera epidemic followed in Haiti, there was little the project could do but wait.
Kechichian is worried that the shipment could be stolen, or the glasses sold for money.
"To send (the glasses) just to get rid of them? That would be the very wrong attitude," Kechichian said.
The relief project has stopped taking donations. As well, the project's website has been taken down.
Jessica Hallem was among the volunteers who had signed up to go to Haiti as a volunteer for the eyeglasses project. She heard about the campaign and wanted to help. She found the lack of communication from the project's leaders frustrating, as well as the lack of planning beforehand.
"I think if you're going to go to the media and say that you're going to Haiti to do something, you should probably have the plans in place and the infrastructure to do so," Hallem said of the campaign's launch last year.
She attended a meeting for volunteers in February 2010, where she donated 55 pairs of glasses she had collected from co-workers. After the meeting she did not hear anything and eventually gave up on the cause.
Kechichian says every e-mail about the project was answered, but no new information was given to volunteers because there was none to give. If they are able to send a team, the number of volunteers contacted will depend on how many they will need, he said.
Private groups and citizens going into disaster zones outside established non-governmental organizations' networks are a growing phenomenon, according to Karen Palmer, a spokesperson for Oxfam Canada. The larger private groups are known as "suitcase NGOs" Palmer said, because they pack everything they're bringing in their own luggage.
"We have heard of private citizens (going to disaster zones)," Palmer said, but the downside is that it may be cynicism for some who wonder where their donation money goes.
"Lots of people go down with the best of intentions," Palmer said.
Good Samaritans going to Haiti can expect a lot of challenges, she said; even experienced relief workers have had problems. Oxfam had trouble finding space for its staff in the field, with people staying in the backyard of a building that survived the earthquake.
"We had people sleeping in tents," Palmer said.
NGOs customarily work in clusters to assess and distribute aid to communities in need. When there are groups operating outside the plan, it can complicate the process, said Palmer. She encourages making a donation to an NGO that is already working in Haiti and other parts of the world.
But for Kechichian, there is no looking back. He said that the glasses cannot be resold, and therefore the project must deliver them to Haiti to finish the project.
"We have to finish this job," he said. "I will not give up."
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