Lions – knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness
LION MARVIN O. Grant was born in Guyana, the beautiful land of many waters.
His career as a medical technologist span over two decades. After serving in supervisory positions at the Georgetown Public Hospital Laboratory and the Fitz St Rose Medical Center (St Lucia), Lion Marvin relocated to The British Virgin Island where he now works at the Medicure Laboratory as the lead technologist.
In 2002 at Medicure Ltd, Lion Marvin met his mentor and sponsor, the late Lion Theodore Skeete MJF, PRC, who invited him to a Lions meeting. Later that year, Lion Marvin joined the Lions Club of Tortola and since then his passion, dedication and commitment to serving humanity has earned him several awards
from his club, district and LCI, including a key award, Lion of the Year (three times), and a Melvin Jones Fellowship.
At club level, he has served in all positions except that of treasurer, Tail Twister and Leo adviser.
At district level, he has served as district chairman and associate; zone chairman, Region 2 chairman, vice-governor and governor for District 60B.
He is a proud graduate of the 2012 regional Lions Leadership Institute. Leos from the New Kingston Club carrying out sight-screening tests. HELEN KELLER, born in 1880, became blind and deaf at the age of 18 months. As an adult, she became a tireless advocate for people with disabilities. In 1923, she attended the Lions Clubs International Convention and challenged Lions to become ‘knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness’.
Lions across the world have accepted her challenge, and our work since then has made sight programmes aimed at preventable blindness a major part of our brand. Our work involves working on projects designed to prevent blindness, restore eyesight and improve eye health and eye care for millions of people worldwide. Sight preservation remains one of our defining causes. Lions around the world are actively involved in: I Recycling glasses. I Supporting Lions eye banks which provide eye tissue for sight-saving surgeries,
Screening the vision of thousands of people annually.
Providing treatment for people at high risk of losing their vision.
In Jamaica, there are approximately 27,000 blind people. Eighty per cent of our population experience low vision. Lions recognise that 80 per cent of blindness is preventable. We therefore spend hours on screening and education of our people of all ages.
We have to work closely with all our valuable partners, like the Jamaica Society for the Blind. The non-communicable chronic diseases remain an issue in this region. We therefore have to support healthcare providers in encouraging our people to maintain a healthy lifestyle and adhere to medication, if prescribed. Blindness is preventable and as Lions we will continue to work hard to prevent it. Lion Dr Blossom Anglin-Brown, District Chairman, Sight Conservation and Blindness Prevention.
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