At church last week I heard that a group of Optometrists and at least one Ophthalmologist where visiting Jamaica to provide free eye exams and glasses. I jumped at this opportunity. I preformed basic eye exams at school to determine which children at Orange Hill All Age School needed glasses and used my birthday money to provided their transportation all the way down to Montego Bay and lunch.
One of the girls was diagnosed with Keratoconus-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keratoconus
"Keratoconus is a degenerative disorder of the eye in which structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change to a more conical shape than its normal gradual curve."
This disorder usually develops during adolescents. What makes this disturbing is that the girl's vision has already degenerated to the point where she can barley read a book or the chalk board AND glasses can not improve her vision. She will need costly surgery that I expect is not offered in Jamaica. On top of it all she is one of the brightest students at school and has endless possibilities; she could make it out of here. Without correction her vision will continue to worsen until about the age of 30 and most of her opportunities are going to be taken away from her.
When I asked her what her father did, hoping he was a drug lord and had lots of money, she told me her father recently passed away because he "preached to hard".
When she got the news she took it very well. She is bright, so I know she understood what the doctor was saying. It was heartbreaking, the entire situation is heartbreaking.
I don't know what I can do to help this little girl. I would love suggestions.
This is a picture of some of the children I brought to the clinic. The girl center left needs the eye surgery. The kids loved the trip into the city. I caught one of the boys peeing on the outside of the building- "THIS IS NOT THE COUNTRY!" I yelled. "But but I had to go."
I love the students.
