Rotarian collecting used eyeglasses
A local Rotarian is seeking donations of eyeglasses to give to those in need in Nepal.
Catharine Goheen is trying to fill two suitcases with spectacles of all types — reading glasses, sunglasses, bifocals — that she will deliver to working mothers in Dang through an aid organization called HER International.
“Although bonded labor was outlawed in Nepal since 2000, the parents are so poor and their daughters’ lives so hopeless at home that the parents still contract out their daughters annually for $50,” says Goheen.
“Girls as young as six years old work night and day, are often fed poorly and don’t see their parents for years. Too many end up in the sex trade market.”
Used glasses from the Okanagan area already making a difference in countries around the world.
“Often, when people hit 40 years of age, their close vision is less clear. By the time they are 45 years old, most folks can’t see close to read, fix a bike or do craft work. In Third world countries, this means many poor adults are pulling their kids from school to do the parent’s job,” Goheen says.
“So often, when I give a parent a pair of used Okanagan reading glasses, they smile with joy, sharing that now they can return to work and their son will go back to school.”
Used glasses may be dropped off for Goheen at Dr. Specs Optical in the Penticton Plaza near Safeway and Shoppers Drug Mart.