St John—helping people in Palestine see

Did you know…… that Australia is a very lucky country. In Australia we can easily go to the supermarket and buy good food. We can turn on the tap and have hot and cold water. We can go to the doctor or hospital when we are sick.

Life in some places of the world is much harder than in Australia. In Palestine, a place located in the Middle East (about 17 hours by plane!), many people cannot go to the doctor or a hospital. This might be because the people do not have a lot of money to pay to see a doctor or because it is not safe to go outside of their homes due to fighting between the countries, Israel and Palestine.

National Ophthalmic WeekSt John Ambulance Australia

8-12yrs

Talking pointImagine if you couldn’t see a doctor or go to the hospital when you needed to? What would you do if you were sick?

Meet Ahmed Elnajar. Ahmed lives in the Gaza Strip in a refugee camp with his parents, two brothers and three sisters. His house is very small and crowded, and it only has two rooms. His father is not working, so there is no money to spend. Sometimes it is hard to buy good food.

One day, Ahmed was out playing with his friends when a stone hit his right eye. After this, Ahmed started having problems seeing clearly. Ahmed’s father was worried about Ahmed because the other kids were teasing him at school because he couldn’t do his school work and he didn’t play sports well anymore. So his father took him to the local eye clinic to see what was wrong. The clinic doctor said that Ahmed had developed a cataract in his eye (we will talk about what cataracts are a bit later). Ahmed then had an operation at the clinic to try and fix his eye, but it didn’t work. It didn’t look like Ahmed would be able to see properly again. This was very upsetting for Ahmed and his family.

Someone said to Ahmed’s father that he should take Ahmed to the St John Eye Hospital because you do not need to pay them and they have helped many people. So Ahmed’s father took Ahmed to the St John Eye Hospital to see the doctors and nurses there. Ahmed was told he needed to have an operation straight away. St John’s eye doctors took out the cataract that was stopping him from seeing clearly and replaced it with a special lens that would help Ahmed see properly.

The operation was a great success! Ahmed can now play with his friends and read and write well at school. Ahmed and his family are very grateful for the help that St John gave them. The St John Eye Hospital has changed Ahmed’s life.

Ahmed’s story

Ahmed playing soccer after his operation.

Israel & Palestine

Ahmed

Talking pointCan you imagine what Ahmed’s life is like? How is it different to yours?

Talking pointHow do you think Ahmed felt about being teased because of his eye problem?

In Palestine, many children have health problems, especially with their eyes making it hard for them to see—this is called eye disease and there are many different types of eye problems. A lot of eye disease happens because of health problems like diabetes and not being able to have healthy food. These problems are also made much worse by not being able to see a doctor or go to hospital easily.

Each year, St John Ambulance Australia raises money to support the St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem. This eye hospital has been around for hundreds of years and it now helps the people living in Palestine who can’t pay to see an eye doctor or go to hospital. Nurses from the Hospital even come to the homes of people who can’t get to the hospital. This is why your help during Ophthalmic Week matters.

Activity 1—Life with cataractsYou are going to spend a little time learning what it feels like to walk in Ahmed’s shoes and live with cataracts.

Step 2—Make your glassesYou and your partner are going to create a pair of special glasses. These glasses are not normal though. They won’t help you see better. Instead, they are going to be a bit like looking through the dirty window we talked about before.

Your leader will give you a worksheet for your glasses and they will have some materials available.

Decorate your glasses if you have time. Then cut out the glasses by following the black line. You need to cut out where the lenses would be (the parts of the glasses that you see through). Your leader will give you some clear cellophane. Stick enough cellophane on the back of your glasses (your leader will have glue or tape). This becomes the lens. Do this for both sides.

Your leader will have some Vaseline and black textas. On the front side of your glasses (so that the materials don’t get into your eyes), put a few black splotches on the right lens (smudge them a bit), then smear some Vaseline over it. Leave the left lens untouched. Make sure you wash your hands after you have finished!

Activities

Step 3—Walking in Ahmed’s shoesYour leader is going to give you a special task (or tasks) that you need to do with your glasses on. When you are completing the task(s), think about what it’s like doing the task with and without the glasses.

Activity 2—What is it like to be vision impaired?Grab a partner. You’re going to have a three-legged race. Your leader will have some bandages ready so that you can tie yourself to your partner. They will also have blindfolds to give you.

The first time, you will have the race without the blindfold. This second time though, you will be blindfolded.

What are cataracts?Can you imagine looking at the world through a heavily smudged or dirty window? Cataracts can develop because of diseases (like diabetes) or accidents (like getting a chemical in the eye or having an injury like Ahmed’s). There are also things that increase the risk of developing cataracts—like smoking, an unhealthy diet and not wearing sun glasses. This is why it is important to always have a healthy lifestyle and diet and keep your peepers shielded from the sun with a good pair of sunnies!

This is what it is like to live with a mild case of cataract blindness. Cataracts can become much worse; they can even cause blindness—a total blackout.

Like this topic? Then why not complete the Eye Health Interest Badge? Talk to your leader about it today!

Talking PointWhat was it like to do the race blindfolded? What do you think it would be like living with total blindness? What things might help a blind person in their day-to-day life? Talk about it in the big group.

Talking pointWhen you’ve finished having turns, your leader will ask you to come back to the big group. Your leader will ask you how it felt to wear the glasses. Your leader will ask you to think about what kinds of things you would stop doing in your life if you had cataracts.

Bibliographyhttp://www.hollows.org.au/Assets/Files/info_sheet_cataract_blindness.pdfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intraocular_lenshttp://kidshealth.org/kid/grownup/conditions/cataracts.html#http://www.rsb.org.au/Vision_Information/Cataracts.aspxhttp://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en/Image of cataract vision: Royal Blind Society

Step 1—Pair up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St John—helping people in Palestine see

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