A YOUNG woman from Tavistock is preparing to travel to Uganda next month with charity, Vision Aid Overseas. Coraley Medland, 20, a student at Cardiff University, will be part of a seven-person team aiming to improve the lives of thousands of patients who desperately need spectacles to live an ordinary life. The project will last two weeks from July 15 to July 30. Vision Aid Overseas is a charity dedicated to helping people who are unable to receive optical treatment. The charity works with two other organisations, Lions Aid Norway and Sight Savers International, to support longer term efforts. The team aims to carry out 2,000 eye tests during the project and will dispense spectacles which have been donated and recycled in the UK. Coraley said: ?It is amazing how easily we take spectacles for granted in the UK. Even if you are short sighted or long sighted it is virtually impossible to consider your condition a disability. ?There are opticians on every high street in the country and almost nobody in the UK would ever go without. In Uganda many people, especially youngsters, are severely disabled by poor eyesight and I am very excited about the opportunity to help these people.? In the UK 16,000 optical professionals, working in 20,000 practices, service people?s needs ? in Uganda 35%, from the population of 20 million, live below the poverty line and optical facilities are basic, and rely on international aid organisations for support. For more information about Vision Aid Overseas visit http://www.vao.org.uk">www.vao.org.uk or contact the office on 01293 535016.
