Organisation: Light For The World
Location: Austria
Photographer: E.Fullerton

"The most rewarding part of my job is seeing the smiles on those children's faces after they have received their eyeglasses,” says Melakamu Yitayew, an optometrist in Ethiopia. “It is what motivates me to keep doing what I am doing.”

Melakamu Yitayew, 28, is an optometrist working at Arba Minch Hospital Secondary Eye Care Unit in Southern Ethiopia. He plays a vital role in the Child Eye Health programme, training teachers to screen thousands of students for vision problems. 

“For example, Sikela Primary School has nearly 4,000 students, and all of them are screened by trained teachers,” he explains. 

“Then we come here to rescreen the short-listed students and make an appropriate vision diagnosis.”

If needed, students are referred to the hospital. Those with uncorrected refractive error receive free prescription eyeglasses. Others are treated with medications for infections like conjunctivitis.

Melakamu was trained through a Light for the World programme and is proud of the difference this work makes.

The most rewarding part of my job is seeing the smiles on those children's faces after they have received their eyeglasses, he says.

“Hearing how a simple provision of eyeglasses has impacted a child's life and educational performance is what motivates me to keep doing what I am doing.