Wonderful meeting with Ella Hawthorne who is being assisted by the Rotary Club of Ngāmotu Charitable Trust to do Volunteering work in Senegal (East Africa)
For many years since she qualified as a Optometrist, she has had a dream to use her medical skills to provide care in developing countries, especially to people who would otherwise have no access to sight-saving care. She has especially dreamed of working with Mercy Ships (https://mercyships.org) - an organisation that offers healthcare services without charge to improve the quality of life for people with disability, disfigurement, or disease in Sub-Saharan Africa, through better surgical outcomes and whole-person care. They also help to support, develop and increase local medical capacity through programmes and training.
Ella will be managing the Ophthalmic team, helping to restore sight to children and adults who are blind due to cataracts, as well as other eye and vision related problems. An example of the work being done by the Ophthalmic team is included in this video about 4 year old Tresor who had surgery for bilateral congenital cataracts, dramatically improving his quality of life and ability to learn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngz2Z1l5rUM
We wish her well and look forward to regualr updates on her mission.