Optometrist, Dr. Michael Dennis could see more clearly the joys of living in Prince George after a volunteer visit to Peru.
Dennis spent two weeks in Lima with the Volunteer Optometrist Service to Humanity to help some of the thousands who need help with vision.
It's a city of nine million of which seven million are poor, and where "not many people wear glasses," said Dennis.
"We soon discovered the reason for that is because they have no opportunity to get glasses due to the expense and waiting lists."
Dennis, one of a group of VOSH volunteers worked out of a school with mainly hand-held equipment, but the people - mainly adults related to the 3,000 students of that school - came in droves; lining up all day long to see the eye doctors. The volunteers examined 2,500 people in six days.
"We'd screen their eyesight using number charts, rather than letters, and measure their eye pressure. We found high amounts of astigmatism, lots of cataracts and much pterygium (growth on the front part of the eye) caused by ultra violet light."
When a vision issue was found, the person was sent on to one of the dozen of works stations manned by Canadians - six optometrists and 16 optometry students.
"People were fitted with used glasses, being matched as closely as we could for strength."
For many it was like little miracle to be able to see, he said.
"We'd ask 'better?' They'd say,'Ahh, better'. And often the little ladies would stand up and bless us."
"The saddest thing was those with very advanced cataracts. Their public health waiting lists are dramatically longer than ours and the private system is too expensive. We were able to send some on to a local ophthalmologist who would do one cataract for free, but they'd have to pay for the second one, and we learned that would be impossible for most. But they did have improved sight with one eye anyway," said Dennis.
He said most people there earn about $3 U.S. per week, but added, "It's relatively cheap to buy things."
He said a bottle of wine in the grocery store costs about nine solas (Peruvian dollar) which is about $3 Canadian.
Speaking of Canadian, Dennis said he never appreciated Canada so much as when he returned home.
"Compared to Lima, we have very clean air, open spaces and peace and quiet instead of the constant pollution haze from cars and never-ending honking of vehicles day and night."
The volunteers lived in hostels where meals were provided. "They are really into potatoes, even serving rice and French fries together usually with chicken. They are not much into vegetables, but there are fresh oranges and bananas."
He was glad his bilingual daughter, Talisa, volunteered to go with him since the main language spoken is French. "That helped me out a lot," said Dennis, who found the experience both educational and rewarding "to be able to help those with little means."
"It's sad knowing the most common cause of blindness in the world is not having glasses," he said
