Here is an exciting opportunity to make a direct and long-lasting impact on a life in crisis. Our on-the-ground partner CORD informs us that 500 reading glasses are needed for students and teachers in each of the Bredjing, Treguine, and Gaga refugee camps, and 250 in local Chadian communities. Why should farsightedness be a barrier to education?

Give a student reading glasses, and you help him to learn — help him, literally, to see a way to a better future. Give a teacher reading glasses, and you make him a better teacher, better able to interact with his students and better able to expand his knowledge of the subjects he teaches.

If it seems unthinkable that a problem so simply solved could stand in the way of someone’s future, it is because reading glasses are so common, inexpensive, and easily obtained in the developed world. Not so for hundreds of millions in developing or undeveloped countries. “I have never seen a Chadian from the villages wearing glasses,” says Anne Goddard, CORD’s Education Programme Manager for Chad. These refugees and villagers are among the poorest of the poor, and unable to travel to seek vision care. They are also in the midst of a crisis of so great a magnitude that a non-life-threatening problem like farsightedness might not receive great attention.

We think, though, that providing reading glasses is one of the best ways you can help.

If you have an extra pair of reading glasses at home, please send them to us, so that we can forward them to Chad. Our mailing address and instructions can be found here. All prescriptions/refractive powers will be appreciated. We want to send a diversity of refractive powers, as individualized pre-screening is impractical. Although we hope to meet this need primarily through in-kind donations, we also welcome monetary donations to help purchase low-cost, high-quality glasses and defray shipping costs (we estimate that $5000 could supply reading glasses for an entire refugee camp). To support this cause, please make sure the “Reading glasses” box is checked under “Donation Earmark,” when making a donation.

If you are a vision care professional and might like to partner with us, please contact us!

Update: We expect to ship at least 750 pairs of reading glasses in October, using the same logistics route that successfully delivered our first shipment of Headway English books. We are waiting until October to avoid potential distribution problems related to flooding from the imminent rainy season and summer travel by refugees checking on family in Darfur.