Wessex Optical Optometrist Travels to Malawi to Provide Eyecare

Wessex Optical’s Chris Seaby will be travelling to Malawi this June, he writes about this opportunity below;

This June I will be embarking on a healthcare journey to Malawi for three and a half weeks.

Partnering with Cardiff University, I will be supervising and working alongside a committed group of university students and other qualified Optometrists. Our goal is to provide essential eye care and health screening across orphanages, rural towns, and schools across the country.

The journey will start in Blantyre and we will be doing some work alongside a local eye hospital for a few days as we hit the ground running. We then spend a week doing outreach work with the lakeside villages of Karonga alongside a team of cataract surgeons also traveling out to the area from the UK. This will be followed by more outreach in Mzuzu. We continue to Lilongwe where we will be working with a local university and aiding local university students with contact lenses and their functions and use. To finish the trip, we will be visiting orphanages and schools in Lilongwe to offer Eyecare and support where possible. In preparation for this trip, we have been collecting pre-loved glasses with low and equal prescription to bring with us. We have also been collecting non-prescription sunglasses and basic medical equipment for day to day use while we are there.

During my university years, I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of the students travelling out to Malawi but sadly the covid pandemic put an end to the journey before it could even begin.

Years on, now qualified and experienced I didn’t give up the drive and kept in contact with Cardiff University, I feel so fortunate to now have the opportunity to support and supervise the expedition and offer my skills and time to make sure there is Eyecare available to those less fortunate in Malawi. I hope this trip will not only provide me with valuable experience but also context to the Eyecare we are lucky to have here in the UK.