Each year, not-for-profit organisation Cambodia Vision recruits hundreds of volunteers to ‘give the gift of sight’ to disadvantaged and remote Cambodian communities. With research showing the country has one of the highest rates of preventable blindness, the organisation is doing what it can to address this statistic.
Family is at the crux of Cambodian culture and considered the foundation of life. Vision loss can sever this dynamic, with individuals in the family unit losing a sense of purpose. They feel burdensome to their relatives; childhoods are lost as kids become caregivers to their parents, and parents no longer able to provide for their family.
So, when their sight is restored by the Australian volunteers at Cambodia Vision, they approach them with their hands together in a bow of gratitude because they have recaptured the essence of a meaningful life.
Cambodia Vision is a not-for-profit that services the eyecare needs of a selected disadvantaged region in Cambodia each year. Since the first aid trip in 2007, it has provided critical eyecare and hearing services to thousands of Cambodians. In 2023, on 29 October to 4 November, the team setup in Mekong and Kampong Cham hospitals in south-eastern Cambodia, comprising 140 volunteers including nine ophthalmologists, 10 optometrists, four orthoptists, three anaesthetists, 17 nursing staff, a GP, two audiologists, a pharmacist and other support staff and interpreters.
Ms Thida Yang is among the founding members of the charity organisation. A Cambodian refugee now living in Australia, she takes this as an opportunity to resonate with her roots and give back to her community.
She continues to be a key organiser and has participated in every aid trip since its conception. “It gives me an opportunity to learn more about where I came from and contribute in a small way to help people in need,” she says.
Few would have envisaged the influential body that Cambodia Vision would become. What first began as a team of 13 servicing 150 people, now constitutes a team of 140 volunteers servicing an average 4,000 people each year. Although the growth was not anticipated, it has been welcomed and provides a beacon of hope for disadvantaged Cambodians dealing with refractive error and vision loss – some for many years.
Mr William Robertson, of Designs for Vision (DFV), first got involved in 2012 when he joined a friend for an aid trip to Cambodia. He says the rest is history and has been involved annually ever since, leveraging his ophthalmic equipment expertise.
“I became almost addicted since then. It feels like a real calling for me,” he says.
“Cambodia Vision addresses eyecare health disparities and conditions that would be treated immediately in Australia and not result in blindness, which are often overlooked here. The eye health in this country is exacerbated by inadequate education and diet.”
Robertson says the mission of the foundation is “to give them Australian standard eyecare”.
His role at DFV has equipped him with access to connections within the optical industry to provide Cambodia Vision with much needed equipment for the philanthropic efforts in Cambodia. This affiliation with the optometry and ophthalmology diagnostics company has proven instrumental where he has been able to organise nine Keeler LED slit lamps, optical biometer and B-scan ocular ultrasound in addition to glasses and frames for the aid trips.
This, in addition to donations made by companies such as Bupa Optical, HOYA and Alcon, play an essential part in mobilising this cause.
“HOYA essentially gave us 600 IOLs and Bupa Optical, during World Sight Day, were donating $5 a frame for each pair of glasses,” Robertson says.
Yang adds: “Bupa Optical have sold more than 9,000 pairs of glasses and contact lenses, which means they’ve raised over $45,000.”
The foundation is generously supported by several corporations, one of them is the ABC Tissues company, which also provides funds and locations to store the equipment until a container can be sent to Cambodia stocked with medicines, drops, drapes and scalpels for surgeries, as well as glasses and hearing aids, among a host of other supplies.
Brighter futures
Everyone at Cambodia Vision is celebrating the recent mission, which was a success emerging from the pandemic. In fact, it was the first full-fledged trip since 2019.
To prepare, the foundation established a pilot mission in December 2022 to identify and quash any obstacles or hindrances. They realised that the aftermath of the pandemic still lingered: medical staff and supplies were in high demand, so volunteers struggled to take time off and there were difficulties sourcing stock.
Yang says the ‘great resignation’ within the medical industry affected the relationships with the companies through which they organised many supplies.
“We’re finding that we now have to build new relationships with most of the drug companies that we have dealt with before,” she says. “That’s another big challenge for us because we’re still relatively quite small and 100% run by volunteers. So, we rely on fundraising for community donations and on corporate sponsorship.”
Despite these impediments, the volunteers forged ahead as thousands of people awaited their care at Cambodia Vision marquees from the outset. Some had travelled for days along the roadside in hope to be seen. Often, there’s no time for settling in, as the locals stood waiting in their droves.
“There’s just a sea of people sitting out in the marquees waiting to be seen,” Robertson says.
“There would have been 6,000 to 7,000 people who turned up to see us. A lot of volunteers would have been daunted by the amount of people already waiting, because we only got to screen more than 3,500 people,” Robertson says.
Despite the volume, Robertson says there’s a fluidity and rhythm that defines the team dynamic. Although chaotic, everything seems to flow.
After registration, the locals wait for a visual acuity test.
To help manage the queues, Robertson explains to them: “We’re lucky. By the fluke of birth we were born in Australia which has an advanced health care system to look after us. But we are all brothers and sisters and, in turn, we need you to look after one another. So, look at who is on the left and right of you and stay with them until your eye testing is complete.”
Moving six people at a time, they then undergo autorefraction, tonometry and eye drop dilation.
This prepares them to see one of 10 optometrists, who are equipped with their own slit lamps and translator. At this station, the optometrist will inspect the structures of the eye and identify whether they require surgery for pterygium or cataract – or whether they cannot be treated.
“We get lots of people who’ve got chemical burns and penetrating eye injuries possibly needing corneal transplants,” Robertson says.
By the conclusion of the week, Yang says that 3,589 people were screened, 551 pairs of prescription glasses dispensed, thousands of sunglasses distributed and 564 – mostly cataract – life-altering surgeries performed. One-thousand and twelve people were assessed for hearing, and hearing aids were provided where appropriate.
The turnout for Cambodia Vision clinics is attributable to the reputation the organisation has built over the last 15 years. It has earned the trust of the Cambodian people by ensuring the service is of upmost quality. That is, medical volunteers are registered ophthalmologists, nurses, anaesthetists, GPs, orthoptists, pharmacists and optometrists who are experienced and trained in Australia, and technology, equipment and medicine are up to date.
“We do what we can to maintain our reputation. The work we’ve done beforehand, we need to hold on to that,” Robertson says.
The organisation’s services are promoted on national TV in addition to radio broadcast and social media. But a lot of the awareness comes through word of mouth.
Cambodia Vision is entirely self-funded, relying on donations from sponsors and community support. Fundraising efforts occur throughout the year and provide the necessary support for its annual missions.
These include Buddhist ceremonies at Cambodian temples in Melbourne and Sydney, and a major fundraising night in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Commercial support includes the East Chinese Restaurant on Sydney’s harbour at $40,000 annually, ABC Tissues, Mur Thai Food Company, Lim’s Pharmacy and National Auto Glass Supplies at $10,000 annually. The 2CR China Radio Network – A Loving World also conducts fundraising every second year for the cause. Additionally, Granata Eyecare in Northmead, Sydney donate frames to the foundation every couple of months.
“There’s many things happening almost organically in the background,” Robertson says.
He explains that the work of Cambodia Vision is important for breaking the cycle of disadvantage and the ripple effect of helping a single person.
For example, an elder who is dependent on a child for basic tasks is potentially withholding that child from an education and social life. Therefore, by delivering eyecare services to this elder, Cambodia Vision is alleviating the healthcare burden of preventable blindness within the entire family unit.
It also provides children with refractive errors access to glasses, and suddenly schooling becomes much easier.
The impact that the services provide on these one or two individuals starts to positively impact the broader community as they become functioning members of their village.
“For those people who’ve helped, and especially those who came this year; you’re to be congratulated. They should feel proud of themselves because we made a huge change and we’ll be back to do it again this time next year,” Robertson says.
“It’s an amazing thing to do. I really am honoured to be able to do it.”
Yang adds: “We’re changing things in a small way, but it makes a big impact. It makes quite a big dent in the community, and the country as a whole. We’ve been really pleased; it’s what keeps us going.”
For next year’s mission, Cambodia Vision is seeking registered ophthalmologists, optometrists, ophthalmic nurses, general practitioners, optical dispensers and orthoptists. To donate, enquire, or get involved, visit: https://cambodiavision.org.au/
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