SABVI and World Sight Day (October 8,2020) |08 October 2020

(L-R) Rosabel Hoareau-Martin, Dominique Denys and Brigitte Lablache. Missing is Prisca Laure

  ‘Hope in sight!’

If you are looking at this article, it means that you can see.  But, do you ever think of those who can’t?  Those who cannot read, watch the sun rise or see their child smile?  This is because we take our eyesight for granted and we are not even conscious that we have this very special gift. Reduced or absent eyesight can have major and long-lasting effects on all aspects of life, including daily personal activities, interacting with the community, school and work opportunities and the ability to access public services.

This is why World Sight Day is celebrated every year. It is held every second Thursday of October and has a theme, which for this year, is ‘Hope in Sight’. The message is to raise public awareness of blindness and visual impairment as a major international public health issue.  The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness coordinates the activities which focus on global awareness of the blind and visually-impaired.

This year, because of the current pandemic, the Seychelles Association of the Blind and Visually-Impaired (SABVI) cannot organise any big gatherings to celebrate this day, but it hopes to be able to raise awareness of the plight of the non-sighted and visually-impaired members of the community by being visible on TV, radio and Facebook.  In the interim, it also hopes to do the following:

-       convince the  government to designate funds for national programmes for blindness prevention

-       educate the people in Seychelles about blindness prevention

-       sensitise the public towards the problems associated with blindness and visual impairment

A few members of SABVI were not born blind and have lost their eyesight through diseases like diabetes and trachoma, trauma to the eyes, or conditions such as refractive error, cataracts, age-related macular degeneration or glaucoma. According to the WHO, 1 billion people around the world have a preventable vision impairment or one that has yet to be addressed. In Seychelles, we have not been able to obtain the exact statistics for people who are non-sighted or have visual problems, but we are sure that you all know someone who has severe vision problems brought about by the conditions listed above.  This is enough to highlight the severity of the problem.

Our young association, SABVI, will celebrate two years of existence on November 6, and it has a lot of challenges.  However, it believes in Hope in Sight and with some CSR funds that it has started receiving, it aims to improve the lives of young Seychellois students and also other members of the community. 

To list all the projects here would take up too much space, but with its new board made up of Brigitte Lablache as chairperson, Dominic Denys (vice-chair), Rosabel Hoareau-Martin (secretary) and Prisca Laure (treasurer) and other members, SABVI is planning to give free Braille classes, teach the use of the white cane, teach music to non-sighted and visually-impaired children, share audio-books, train carers and parents on how to nurture independence in the non-sighted and visually-impaired, get a Support Group off its feet and assist with technology and applications, which are specially adapted to this particular group of the community.  One such application is Be My Eyes. It is free and helps visually deficient people become independent and can help them read administrative papers, read prescriptions, help them find items on the floor or find out the color of garments. Just a click on the app and someone from any corner of the world can assist.

Hope in sight is at your fingertips!

If you would like to become a member of SABVI or help in any other way, please give us a call on 2603040 or email us on SabviSez@gmail.com/contact@sabvi.net

By Rosabel Hoareau-Martin