¡Mi Esperanza!

The new group! Carol, Jessie, Estrella, Sonia and Me

 

 

Today the fellow volunteers and I had the privilege of helping some of the beautiful women at Mi Esperanza.  Mi Esperanza is an organization dedicated to the education and skills training of Honduran women living in poverty and was co-founded by Lori, our new friend in Tegus.  (If you remember from a previous blog Lori is married to Mark.  And Mark is in-charge of the the non-profit that builds houses for the poor here in Tegus.)   


Last week as we were finishing up another lovely dinner with Mark and Lori it occurred to me that many of the women at Mi Esperanza, especially those in sewing and computer classes, would likely benefit from reader glasses.  And as Unite For Sight volunteers we happen to be drowning in reader glasses!  (Because every volunteer brings 500 pairs.)  I asked Lori what she thought about us coming by with glasses and she thought it was a great idea.  And so a mini-outreach was set-up and the group and I made our way to Mi Esperanza!     

Here I am performing a simple visual/reading acuity test with the sewing teacher.  She needed a rather high power so I'm a little confused as to how she was able teach such a delicate art.  I don't sew but those needles are small!

 Sonia and I with the sewing teacher.  She seemed particularly happy with her new pair of pink readers.

One of the Mi Esperanza students hard at work with her new glasses!  The work done by these students is really quite amazing.  They make all kinds of bags and dresses.

Part of the Mi Esperanza sewing class + the Unite For Sight Volunteers

After we finished finding the correct glasses for each of the women at Mi Esperanza we were asked if we would be willing to be "models" for their students in beauty school.  How could we say no? :-) So next Friday Sonia and I are headed to Mi Esperanza's beauty school.  We will be coming back from Honduras with freshly painted nails and beautifully fluffed hair :-) 

W H E N W A S Y O U R L A S T E Y E E X A M

 

The group repping our Unite For Sight T-shirts.

Also, today the patients from last weeks surgeries were bussed back to Tegus for their 1-week post-operative care exam.  The picture to the right shows the chart of one of the patients.  The patient went from only being able recognize movement directly in front of his eye (i.e. a hand moving directly in front of his eye) to 20/100 vision.  This is a HUGE improvement!  YAY for successful surgeries that allow patients to regain much of their independence and allow them to have a better quality of life.