Our guest speaker this evening was Alek Sims, Alek is part of a team that goes to Nepal to volunteer his time helping those with vision issues.
He has been going since his final year at uni, where he was selected by one of his lecturers and mentors to attend. The team go for 2 weeks at a time and is a mix of Rotarians and non-Rotarians. So far, they have covered 5 different regions, Nepal has a population of approx 30 million people and poverty is prominent in their country.
The team of opticians and assistants provide glasses and check cataracts, and also do basic screenings for vision issues. The team bring large amounts of pre-made glasses and also small amounts of single vision donated lenses that can be reused. They are also connected with local Nepalese Rotary clubs and businesses. The team collaborate with the local hospitals do perform cataract surgery and repair approximately 100 eyes per trip.
Alek discussed that his trips are fully self-funded and Rotary facilitates the project.
Club President, Brian Herd thanks Alek for an extremely interesting presentation.