Words by Smiley Team
As a young student in the U.K., Andrew Bastawrous was curious and bright, but to the surprise of his teachers, he struggled with schoolwork. The mystery was solved when, at age 12, an optometrist tested his eyesight and found that he was severely visually impaired. Andrew remembers his first moments wearing glasses: “For the first time, I saw that trees had leaves on them, and that night, I saw stars in the sky that took my breath away.”
Worldwide, 36 million people are unable to see, with 80-90% living in developing countries. What's more, 80% are blind from causes that are curable or preventable. Andrew realized early on that for many people, eyesight treatment was not easily available and he desperately wanted to help.
As a newly qualified doctor, he set out for Sri Lanka following the 2004 tsunami, but a deteriorated road prevented him from accessing the towns he had arranged to visit. To his surprise, he saw that these other towns were faring better precisely because they were not tagged for assistance. The communities had instead jumped into action and begun problem-solving. While this was a difficult lesson to learn about the complexity of international development, it was one that would shape Andrew’s new vision.
Original article by AshokaContributor - Source Forbes
