"I can even see the leaves!"
It's never too late for glasses.
Ikaanr Tirkey received his OneDollarGlasses at the age of 70. In the very north of the Indian state of Odisha, where Care Netram, the Indian partner of GoodVision, is active, lies Sundargarh with the town of Rourkela. One of the largest German development aid projects was built here in the 1950s: the Rourkela steelworks.
Ikaanr Tirkey has worked there for half his life. Today he is 70 years old and lives in the village of Chikatmati, which was built by the steelworks. He does not have a pension, but he does not pay rent for his small house and receives five kilos of rice and a monthly allowance of 500 rupees (around 6.50 euros) from the government.
Ikaanr lives alone, his wife died a few years ago. His two daughters are married and live with their in-laws, as is the traditional way of life.
At our eye camp, Ikaanr Tirkey was tested with –2.0 diopters in both eyes. He tried on a pair of OneDollarGlasses and was so enthusiastic that he was determined to buy them. It was the first pair of glasses of his life. When Debasis Mohapatra, our head optometrist, asked him to look at a tree in the distance, Ikaanr could hardly believe it: "I can even see the leaves on the branches!
I can even see the leaves on the branches!
