Help put a smile on a Kenyan child’s face

Help put a smile on a Kenyan child’s face

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A LOCAL optician is embarking on a personal mission together with Raha International to provide eye care to residents in a small town in Kenya.

Raha International is an organisation involved with providing children and young adults with better opportunities through health, education and community projects.

Premal Patel, Ophthalmic Director from Specsavers in Beckenham and Penge, visited Kenya in October 2009 and was appalled at the complete lack of eye care available. Mr Patel says: ‘My sister-in-law (Daksha Hirani- co-founder of Raha International) was born and brought up in Nairobi and knows the city and surrounding areas very well. Together with Raha, we decided to organise an eye camp in Mwingi owing to its extraordinary levels of poverty.’

Mr Patel knew the best way he could help would be to utilise his own skills as an Optometrist. Along with Raha International, he is setting up a temporary eye camp in Mwingi to help those in need of corrective eyewear and cataract surgery. The mission has been called Project Smile, in the aim of bringing smiles to the faces of the people they help.

Staff at Specsavers in Beckenham and Penge have joined forces to support Project Smile, and will be raising money and collecting unwanted glasses to be re-dispensed in the Mwingi clinics. Money raised will be used so volunteers can carry out vital eye examinations and provide glasses where necessary. Money will also be used for transportation to and from hospital for those needing cataract surgery as well as paying for the surgery itself. Funds will also contribute towards providing food for those in extreme poverty.

To help raise the money needed to get Project Smile off the ground, Specsavers in Beckenham and Penge are holding a raffle with some great prizes. Up for grabs are two VIP Crystal Palace football match tickets in an executive box and a pre- match dinner for two at the ground. Neil Warnock, Manager at Crystal Palace Football Club, will pay a special visit to Specsavers in Beckenham on Friday 29 January 2010 to draw the winning tickets.

Mr Patel and colleague, Store Manager Shelley Patel, will be travelling to Mwingi on 3rd February 2010 to offer their services in the first eye camp.

Miss Patel says: ‘I didn’t hesitate when Premal asked us to get involved with this worthy cause and I really hope our customers will lend us their support. When we visit Mwingi we aim to carry out around 1,000 eye examinations on both adults and children. We’re also thrilled to have the support of Kikuyu Hospital in Kenya to help with the cataract surgery and to have Crystal Palace Football Club backing us. What’s more, none of this would be possible without the great support from Raha International.’

Customers and local residents are invited to pop into the stores in Beckenham and Penge to buy raffle tickets, on sale now for £1. Donations to the project are also warmly welcomed.