Dubai: If you have more pairs of glasses than you care for, don’t let them gather dust — give them to someone who may need them.
An Abu Dhabi-based resident has launched a sight-saving initiative to collect used and outdated glasses from UAE residents so that they can be given to poor patients in Pakistan who can use them.
“I have been wearing glasses my entire life and two years back, I got a Lasik eye surgery done. To see so clearly without my glasses was one of the many wonderful things that happened to me. I could see each and every leaf clearly, didn’t have to strain my eyes or squint to read letters. It was an amazing feeling,” said Rubina Umer, the woman behind the initiative
A few months down the line, Umer realised that she had at least four-five pairs of glasses in her cupboard. Surely, others did too as the power of their glasses would have changed or they had gone out of fashion.
“For some reason, all of us who wear glasses hoard them,” she noted. “That’s when I decided to look around for places and people who could use them and actively started searching for hospitals or agencies who could help distribute them to the needy.”
When Umer floated the idea among friends and family, the response was very encouraging. They too wanted to be a sight-saver like her.
“We collect new and used eye glasses and when we have a good number of around 150 pairs, we send them to two hospitals — the Al Shifa Eye Hospital in Islamabad and the Layton Rahmatullah Benevolent Trust (LRBT) in Karachi. Both these hospitals actively run free eye camps in the interior parts of the country and provide free cataract surgeries, run mobile hospitals and give patients the eye glasses we donate.”
She said the eye glasses donated are duly sorted and labelled according to number — like -1, 0.5, 3 etc — and distributed to the poor during the free eye camps.
“There is a shop in Abu Dhabi which also helps us by providing new eye glasses for Dh5-Dh10 for those who want to pay in cash,” she said. The initiative has sent 475 pairs of glasses to the two hospitals since it began last year.
“The hospitals send me acknowledgment receipts which I circulate to all the donors with a thank you letter and an update on how many glasses we have sent and how many people have benefited from their contribution. It is a very rewarding experience,” said Umer.
If you wish to give away your old eye glasses and be a sight saver, write to rubina.umer@injazat.com for details.
