Free glasses make a difference
" To us every day is a Mandela Day.We also volunteer in the cleaning of parks"
MBOMBELA – Elderly citizens lined up at the Nelspruit Plaza for free eye tests on Friday.
The Nelspruit Lions Club in collaboration with the Mpumalanga Council for Blind put everything aside and dedicated the day to help people who struggle with their eyesight.
Speaking to Mpumalanga News, the provincial programme manager of the initiative,
Dr Abraham Varghese said,
“We are here to assist people who have problems with their eyesight.
We are giving them free reading spectacles and those who are supposed to go for operations will be referred to the Themba Hospital.”
Varghese said this was part of their 67 minutes in honour of Madiba.
“To us every day is a Mandela Day. We are making a difference in our communities every day. Besides this, we also volunteer in the cleaning of parks.” He went on to say that they were surprised at how many people had come for the services.
“The response is overwhelming and we believe that this would be an eye-opener to the government to work hard in terms of bringing free services closer to the people, because the majority who are here actually come from disadvantaged communities and can’t afford specialists,” he concluded.
One of the elderly residents who benefited from the initiative, Martha Shabangu (86) said,
“I arrived here at 05:30 because I didn’t want to miss this opportunity since I am a pensioner and I can’t afford to go to specialists for these services.”
Another senior citizen, Thabisile Fakudze from Pienaar said,
“I am happy that today I will be able to read my Bible because I have received free reading spectacles. I am no longer going to struggle as I used to. I am happy that I didn’t even spend a red cent.”
