Beneficiary Case Study

ORBIS Ethiopia (Project Code: 3028)

Name: Gashaw Alemayehu Sex: Male, 15 years old Occupation: Student Diagnosis: Refractive Error/Myopia Facility: Tolta Health Center Date: 21/11/2014

15 years old Gashaw Alemayehu lives with his parents and siblings at Tolta Kebele in South Ari District, South Omo Zone, in the SNNPRS. Gashaw is an eighth grade student who has been exceeding in his studies since he joined school starting from first grade.

Gashaw goes to the nearby Tolta Primary School. All his teachers know Gashaw by his friendly behavior and good performance in all his subjects. However, his parents and teachers are also familiar with his struggle to look things from distance but no one knows how his problem could be solved.

His teachers always assign him in the front sit so that he can follow his teachers through the entire course attentively. His struggle to see things from distance started when Gashaw was just in 2nd grade. Gashaw recalls:

“I couldn’t see things clearly since 2nd grade…I didn’t understand how and why this problem occurred to me…things are always blurry. I couldn’t even read my textbooks without a very close look. I also couldn’t recognize the face of my friends unless they are very close to me. My sight now is getting worse than it used to be when I was very young.”

Gashaw’s parents did everything they could to make their son’s eyes see clearly just like the rest of his siblings and friends. They have also taken him to the nearby Health Center where there was no enough equipment as well as professional optometrist to deliver the necessary service. Moreover, they have not pursued their son’s medical examination to a better hospital because of Gashaw’s parent’s financial problem. Luckily, Gashaw’s biology teacher recently has taken screening training which was organized and sponsored by Orbis Ethiopia. The first student to be screen by his biology teacher was Gashaw. Gashaw was found to have a shortsightedness problem called Myopia in its scientific name. Most people who are struggling with shortsightedness cannot see any objects or written words from distance which can be easily be recognized by people with normal sight.

On the 21st of November 2014, Gashaw was referred to Tolta Health Center for re- screening and possible treatment by a professional. The optometrist, who is supported by Orbis Ethiopia, Selamawit Abebe, examined Gashaw’s eyes vision. Fortunately, she found a perfect match eyeglass that corrects Gashaw’s refractive error, which is also made available by Orbis Ethiopia as well. Gashaw’s both eye visions when he came to the health center was 6/60. Now after receiving his eye glass, his eyesight has greatly improved to 6/12 visual acuity.

Gashaw went speechless when he put the eyeglass on for the first. For the first time in years, the objects surrounds him were not blurred anymore. Happily, he wore his glass and said:

‘ ‘ Thank you very much for correcting my sight and helping me achieve my dream. I hope I will be a doctor in the future to help other children who are struggling with same problem I have.” Gashaw and few other students at Tolta Primary School who has received free prescribed spectacle through Orbis Ethiopia.