Newsletter: January 2009

Linked is an article from the Washington Post about Dr. Joshua Silver and his invention of glasses that can be fitted by amateurs. They cost $20 a pair.

I have spoken to Dr. Silver and ordered 250 glasses to train our staff in Port-au-Prince. With your help we will distribute hundreds of these extraordinary glasses in future months.

As the Post article says:

"Even if they could visit an eye doctor, the cost of glasses can be more than a month's wages. This means that many school children cannot see the blackboard, bus drivers can't see clearly and others can no longer fish, teach or do other jobs because of failing vision."

Dr. Silver - a physicist at Oxford University - describes his first patient in Ghana. Henry Adjei-Mensah, a tailor, could no longer see enough to thread his sewing machine. After he got Dr. Silver's glasses:

"He grinned and started operating his sewing machine very fast." He could make a living again.

We now have more than 107 water boards in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Dalebrun Esther and his staff will train these volunteers to distribute the new glasses and adjust them for each person. No optometrist needed.

Therefore the cost of the glasses frame, lens, and adjustment for each person who needs them, all, is just $20. That cost is simply amazing.

Initially, we shall ask for a payment of 50 gourdes ($1.23 US) from those able to pay. With some experience we will then adjust the price to ensure the widest number of Haitians benefit.

As a person who has worn glasses since age 7, I would not have completed school, held many jobs, or read widely without their help. It's no wonder that many Haitians are unable to make progress.

If you need glasses to read this letter, you know what I am describing. Try going without for an hour or a day. Then imagine the thrill of our Haitians who look through the new, adjustable lenses for the first time, thanks to you.

With every warm wish,
Lindsay Mattison
Director

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