Who said BICO wasnt active in serving rural communities in Malawi?

This blog is about the work of Blantyre Institute for community OphthalmologyBICO who have been in the forefront of implementing eye health community programs in rural areas in Malawi.

We have been in each and every corner of Malawi; thanks to your support and we intend to visit more areas if we can be further assisted.

BICO started in 2008 in Blantyre Malawi with a childhood blindness project (which was part of the PhD study) by the then founder Dr KK (actually it’s me); but over the course of years BICO has taken a much broader base; doing programs regarding adults as well. Many thanks for those who believed in the programme when it just started; now we can openly show its fruits. The first Non Malawian person to be convinced that BICO could do something was Lion Marco Terzetti, from Italy: who encouraged us to apply for funding from Lion Clubs.

We believe we can change many lives by improving visual status of many Malawian in the community. We are a very small organisation with no real permanent employees; yet we are able to organise many things.

In 2012 BICO has been joined by main Lions Club who believes BICO’s goals are achievable and these include the Lions Club of Netherlands, Lions Club of Arizona, USA and the   Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF). Actually BICO has previously been funded by LCIF through Lions Club of Limbe when we implemented the Phalombe children’s project in 2010 & 2011.In that Project we were supported by the Lions Club of Perugia, Italy.

I can see that we may eventually become a permanent Lion partner (somehow they like us and we like them).Sedona eye clinic in USA is funding us with lenses.

We still need your financial support to reach more rural areas in Malawi.

Together we can do more.

Do you want to donate anything to BICO?

Contact me at  : director@bicomalawi.org

Email me!

Finally we made it to Nsialuzu Resource Centre (Blind school) in Ntcheu

Today we are visiting Ntcheu district, in particular Nsialudzu resource centre where there are 37 children with Low Vision/Blind.I am here to familiarise myself with the place as thanks to Lions of Netherlands I will be visiting this place often.

Our objectives are twofold : To donate mattresses, mosquito nets and books that Blantyre Institute for community OphthalmologyBICO  solicited through well wishers such as Dr Vicki Mak  from New Zealand, Insia from UK,  Robray mattres in Blantyre and Lions Club of Limbe ; and secondly: to assess the condition of children in the school for the blind(resource centre). Of course the main contributor was for this trip Vicki Mak.

There are 37 blind/low vision children here and their condition is pathetic as most of them had had never had an eye examination. We are here to assess their condition and see what best can be done to improve their learning. And we have found a 11 year old boy with bilateral cataract in school registered as blind (because he is) and yet he could have come to the eye unit in Blantyre and be operated on ; and could see properly. Imagine in 2012 ; waiting for 11 years before you can go to a hospital to be helped with a condition that once is born with. Very sad indeed . But this boy will now be referred to hospital where hopefully he will regain his sight. I wonder how many more there are out there?

A full report will come on the Blantyre Institute for community OphthalmologyBICO website and there will be a video that has captured the whole event.

Together we can do more.

Do you want to donate to BICO?

Contact me at  : director@bicomalawi.org

Email me!

Thank you Rotarians of Limbe

We finally did it.

It was nice seeing so many people from Mulanje regain their Sight after we did Cataract surgeries at Mulanje district hospital on 20^th and 21^st April 2012.

Frank Mbewe my right hand man did most of the work and I am very proud of him.

Bravo to the team that went to Mulanje.

Rotarians, please support more of these eye camps.

Cataract remains the common cause of blindness in MALAWI with over 20,000 blind from the disease.

An operation to remove cataract takes less than 15 minutes (in the experience hands) so these people should not suffer unnecessarily.

What is needed is to support the team to be able to go and perform surgeries. In 2011 Malawi had a zero deficit budget; which meant zero community eye activities.

Blantyre Institute for community Ophthalmology BICO   my unit couldnt  help.

 

Should more Malawians be supporting cataract surgeries from their pockets?

Comment at : director@bicomalawi.org

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Today I am in Hongkong China

We are in Hongkong China with Vicki Mak, a doctor friend from New Zealand who I met while she was visiting Malawi. She has a passion to help the blind school in Malawi (see my earlier blog), and has visited the Hongkong society for the blind, where a lot of blind resources can be found. While in Malawi all we talked about was about blind children and Blantyre Institute for community OphthalmologyBICO but today since I have other friend from Malawi who have got nothing to do with blindness, VICKI is taking us to see Hongkong proper.

Well to me Hongong is like heaven, there are many many trees and the terraine in beautiful.There are a lot of people, but they are not cutting trees.

Before I know it is time to go to the airport and take my flight to Malawi; ready to deal with more cases of childhood blindness.

WE agree to keep in touch through email; and she will send the donated school itmes to me to deliver to Ntcheu school for the blind.

A big thank you to Dr VICKI for hosting us: I should have done more for you while you were in Malawi. But I shall revenge.

I wish you all the best as you start up on a new a job in Australia (haven’t been back there for a couple of years now);and I hope to visit you one of these days.

And who knows, you may even go ahead and specialise in Ophthalmology.

My other mentor (apart from Moses Chirambo) was the Australian Professor and Eye surgeon Fred Hollows, who spent a lot of time in Australia dealing with blindness among the aboriginals and rural communities; and who introduced the first lens factory in Eritrea.I believe peole like VICKI have a great potential to go that way.

Blind children from Malawi should know that there are people out there who care for them and are daily trying to do something for them. I am one of them.

Are you conviced they are ?

Contact me at : director@bicomalawi.org

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The power of Internet in Blindness programs

When Vicki Mak, a doctor from New Zealand contacted me a few months ago enquiring about accommodation in Blantyre (as she had intended to spend time at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital), honestly I did not pay much attention to her request. Why would anyone have done so anyway, especially that she was going to be in Malawi for general medicine and not even intending to visit my eye department?

Well she must have been in Malawi for closer to eight weeks without my knowledge when I bumped into her at College of Medicine Computer Library: and I don’t remember exactly how it started; but when she mentioned New Zealand I asked her i she was the one who contacted me by email. Of-course she denied at first (she didn’t even remember emailing me), but after reminding her what it was all about, she went into her inbox and indeed found out that we had communicated.

She then asked what i was doing: and as usual I took the opportunity to explain to her about blindness in children and what little is being done in the community to help such children and how people like her may end up helping the programme in Malawi. After watching a video of what Blantyre Institute for community OphthalmologyBICO in Malawi is doing in creating community solutions that will ensure that blind and visual impaired children access sight restoration surgery at an earlier stage, she was hooked to the programme and couldn’t stop thinking about it.

We met several times in my department and discussed about how she could help, and we agreed that she should go and visit a blind school in Ntcheu (big mistake!!!!!).Whe she came back she could not stop thinking about the boys and girls in the blind school, and what she could do to help them. She immediately donated support items directly to the school (worth $2000); and also contacted her parents in Auckland Newzeland who also agreed to donate another $2000.As I write now, Nsialudzu blind school in Nthcheu has new mattresses and a few other things, thanks to VICKI.

We agreed that we should discuss more about how the children can be screened and provided with learning materials and glasses.Where do we meet: Hongkong restraurant in Blantyre and also in Hongkong, China where she was travelling to.

So far we have met in Blantyre and China and good progress has been made.

My hope is that the people in Nthcheu will realise that it is BICO’s effort that have resulted in improvements o their blind school.

Together we can do more.

A big thank you to Dr VICKI: a young girl with a passion to help the less preveleged.

In the picture Vicki:also a blind child from a blind school.

Are you impressed with what internet can do? are you using internet to your benefit or for the benefit of the nation?

Do you want to donate to BICO?

Contact me at : director@bicomalawi.org

Email me!