My journey with Community Eye Care Services started when I joined the Botswana Eye Care Society in 2005 being elected as Secretary in 2007. During this period – I had the pleasure of engaging many of the eye care providers in Botswana and collectively drove the Vision 2020 (RIGHT TO SIGHT) initiative in collaboration with Standard Charted Bank. Through the Vision 2020 initiative we managed to screen 3000 people for different eye conditions and correcting refractive errors.
I was motivated towards bringing value to children with Intellectual Disability and subsequently trained and qualified as a “Clinical Director (Opening Eyes) for the Special Olympics. As the Clinical Director, I was invited to the Summer Games 2007 in China and participated in screening more than 7000 athletes. Thereafter, I continued to coordinate many eye-screening campaigns in Botswana engaging local Optometrist and Ophthalmic Nurses collectively screening over 2000 athletes.
To expand my reach and deliver my experience to a larger community, I became a member of the LIONS Club International in 2010. My prime responsibility was to coordinate more eye-screening campaigns and dispense spectacles to individuals with refractive errors.
I am very proud to be part of the group of Optometrists that founded Botswana Optometrists Association under the leadership of Optom. Sushil Kumar. I was given the responsibility to draft the Constitution which BoA adopted. Furthermore, I was able to leverage all my experience in delivery Community Eye Care services and elected as the “Chairperson of the Community Service Committee”.
As an avid Motorcycle riding enthusiast, I was pleasantly surprised how my fellow riders contributed to many charities. This inspired me to initiate a donation drive of spectacles to Secondary Schools around Botswana. I would visit a school with a few Optometrists and refract all pupils. We would then send a list of all who need spectacles to Motorcycle Club to buy the spectacles. The programme has been running for more four years now, seeing more than 500 students benefiting through this program.
