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See Clearly | Eye health & community in Kenya

Four years ago we started building a partnership with the amazing folks at Free the Children, now called We.org. Through this partnership, we are fulfilling our mission of Better Vision for Everyone by removing barriers to vision health and vision correction. Our team is lucky to have had the opportunity to travel to South Narok, Kenya multiple times over the last few years to help screen, support optical education, and provide prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses to thousands of children, women and men.

In our final reflection from our last trip to Kenya, Tim Lucy, our Senior Business Analyst, and Carla Rodriguez, our Logistics Team Leader, share their favourite moments and memories from their extraordinary journey from Vancouver, BC to the Masa Mara.

Meet Tim!

The group I was fortunate enough to spend this adventure with was the best that I could have asked for. Dedicated to helping others, big-hearted and lots of fun. Upon departure, we were a very excited group, taking pictures and preparing for the long trip to the Mara. Other than the long flights, it was a bit scary looking down at the dirt landing strip and seeing the wildebeests near the end of it thinking this was going to be a rough landing… I thought only in the movies would I ever see something like this..

On Day 1, the bumpy ride in the open air was both good and bad. I was very jet lagged but didn’t want to close my eyes and miss anything. If my memory serves, I believe on team member fell asleep bumping all over the place and at one point we thought she was going to be tossed out the window or get severe whiplash. I loved starting out the days with the morning walks. The landscape still dew filled and the warm sun on our faces… It was always a treat to hear the stories from the Masaii Warriors.

The nightly dinner also stands out in my mind. I’m sure we all looked forward to this every evening. The food was great and hearing what each person had to say about their day was always inspiring. Tuskers and Dawas, and playing games with lots of laugh’s spilling into the night. I may have been trying to push a few buttons, hopefully nobody was offended!

When thinking back to the first day of eye screenings, I can’t remember if we arrived late but seeing the huge line up of people waiting it sure felt like it. To add to that, there was a tour of the facility and needless to say, we didn’t start out very organized. It now felt like we were making the people wait forever to get their eyes tested. I’m not sure the number of people that were waiting but upon entering the tent with what felt like a thousand eyes watching our every move I was terrified to look up. When I finally did look at the crowd gathered I was greeted with huge smiles. I thought for sure people would have been complaining. Wow, that blew my mind and still does to this very day.  Once we got started with the eye exams we turned into a well-oiled machine and quickly tested a huge amount of people before the day was done.

Every day had something new to offer, whether it was the giraffe’s, the monkeys trying to steal the garbage, the bush babies screaming Craig’s name or the giant bugs attacking Liz was never a dull moment. At the time I felt like we were packing too much into each day but now I wouldn’t have it any other way, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on a single moment of our experience.

Meet Carla!

One moment that really stands out for me is when we went to Enelerai Primary School. I was at the frame station giving out the prescription frames to each child that needed them. This one little guy was very shy at first and didn’t really say much or show any kind of facial expression. I had him try on a pair of frames and look at himself in the mirror. When he saw himself for the first time a look of joy came over him. He couldn’t stop looking at himself in the mirror, and I remember how he didn’t want to put the mirror down.

To see him so happy overwhelmed me and I had to take a minute to get myself together. It was the best feeling to know I made his day and overall his every day going forward.

Kenya was an experience that I will cherish forever. How all 9 of us were able to come together to help people across the world with better vision is something not a lot of people can say. I hope with our presence there, that we were able to help promote eye health in this beautiful community in Kenya.