Wednesday 30th August – Part 2
In the afternoon we visited a health centre, to meet a village health team. These are all volunteers, who are trained by the local government in a wide range of health issues, including eyecare. They then encourage people in their community to come to the centre if they have problems. They had pulled together a drama group of young people, who performed a series of sketches and songs which were aimed at educating people about eyecare. (They also showed us one about HIV/Aids). I was taken aback at the high quality of the performance, although it was a bit sobering to see the casual acceptance of domestic violence as a key cause of eye trauma. They included a section on traditional healers, with a satire on witch doctors – it was clear that many in the community fully understood the need not to use traditional herbs for eyecare, (they can exacerbate corneal damage) but we still saw evidence of it everywhere.