Vision Care Training Underway

I am Principal Investigator of the REAP/OneSight “Seeing is Learning” project in Yulin City, Shaanxi Province. Prior to arriving in Yulin, twelve instructors received special training on delivering vision health care information in Xi’an. Then they formed six training teams with each team facilitating training on myopia and the benefits of wearing eyeglasses for three groups: fourth and fifth grade students, fourth and fifth grade teachers, and parents whose children are near-sighted.

The training is comprised of three parts: an 8-minute video titled “Eyeglasses Changed My Life,” a PowerPoint presentation, and a pamphlet reinforcing the key messages. There are three versions of the aforementioned training materials—one for kids, one for teachers, and one for parents.

I observed a team conducting its first training session in Woyang Primary School, Shigou Township, Mizhi County on October 17, 2012. The team included REAP volunteers Ms. Jiangli Long and Ms. Shuai Chen.

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Students at Woyang Primary School love the cartoons in their Vision Care Training pamphlets! Image

To begin, Jiangli showed the training video to all the fourth and fifth grade students in the school. The kids all loved the video and were very focused from start to finish. Their favorite part of the training session was the pamphlet with all the colorful cartoons. When Jiangli asked the kids, “Do you want to read some cartoons?” all students said very loudly and in sync, “Yes!” We couldn't help but smile and when we passed out the pamphlets to the first row of students, the rows behind them could hardly wait to get a copy.

The school principal, along with all the fourth and fifth grade teachers were trained right after the students. When teachers were told that some of the students in their class had myopia, they were very surprised. During training, they were very attentive and asked many questions to better understand myopia and how to help their students correct their eyesight.

Parental training was held last. A total of eleven parents came for the training. There were seven mothers, two fathers, a grandpa, and a grandma. After the training, a father said to Jiangli, “I learned so much and I am glad my daughter's eyesight can be fixed. As a parent, this means everything. Thank you." 

It's scenes from classrooms like the one above and words of encouragement from parents and teachers alike that give our work so much meaning.