ChairwomanGülsüm Bayrakli
Optician
Professional supervision of the eye tests as well as organisation and coordination of the missions.
On a trip to Zanzibar, Tanzania, I noticed that very few people wore glasses. Probably also because of my professional experience, one question came to me immediately: do people really see so well that they do not need glasses, or do refractive errors go undetected because there is no opportunity for eye tests and no money for them?
Back in Germany I began to look into the subject more closely. My research showed that in poorer regions in particular, many refractive errors go undetected and are therefore not corrected either. Schoolchildren are especially affected. If they cannot see properly, it not only makes lessons harder but can also impair their entire educational and personal development.
From Germany and from the profession I have practised for more than 30 years, I did not know a situation like this. Here, eye tests and suitable glasses for schoolchildren are usually part of normal everyday life. That made the question of how to help schoolchildren without these options occupy me all the more.
During my research I came across the Assalam Community Foundation. The organisation runs free schools on site, gives schoolchildren access to education and offers various vocational training programmes.
I contacted the Assalam Community Foundation and arranged a one-week stay on site. In numerous conversations the problem was confirmed: many people, and schoolchildren in particular, live with undetected refractive errors and receive no visual aid, even though suitable glasses would be urgently needed for their everyday life, their education and their further development.
Back in Germany I started the preparations right away. The idea had taken shape: to found an association that helps people in Africa, and schoolchildren in particular, by detecting vision problems and making suitable glasses.
