British optician brings joy for all to see

Posted on Mon 12th January 2009

He said the result was life-changing, particularly for 15-year-old Oucho.

Mr Conn added: 'Oucho had been blind for about five years from cataracts.

For the last two years he had been out of school and cried all day because he couldn't do anything. 'He couldn't go out to fetch water and he couldn't go and get food. Miserable doesn't cover it.'

People who are blind can feel a burden on the family who may struggle to look after them, Mr Conn added.

But, just hours after the cataract operation, Oucho's bandages were removed and he said: 'Wow! I can see.'

Mr Conn, who lives in North London and is store director of Specsavers in Russell Square, was working on behalf of the Ashanti Development charity in Central Ghana.

Specsavers had donated £15,000 to pay for about 1,000 cataract operations - which can take just 15 minutes each but restore the gift of sight and give people fresh hope.

'It is like flicking a light on for a lot of these people and so many just wanted to get back to work,' Mr Conn said. 'There were a lot of children who were very short-sighted and were having difficulty in school because they couldn't see the blackboard and were falling behind.

'I welled up all the time with the feeling you get knowing that every single person you see will be completely life-changingly better off.'

source: www.metro.co.uk

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