Helping people with poor eyesight across the globe

Colin and Ruth Perrott, have helped to send a quarter-of-a-million pairs of glasses over the past 21 years to help people with poor eyesight across the globe.

Ruth with friends and colleagues visit villages in Malawi, setting up eye clinics and dispensing your old spectacles. The delight on the faces of the villagers is emotional and hard to ignore especially when one old chap took Ruth by the hand and said “Sister, you have restored my sight. God Bless You.”

Project Malawi was founded in 2003 by David and Gillian Mason who are Local Preachers in the York South Methodist Church Circuit. They are also Area Regional Directors for Community Bible Study International and it was during their work in trying to bring the Bible to villagers that they realised that many were not only illiterate but had physical problems in reading. They set up a Vision Team and Ruth became a founder member.

Together, with the help of volunteers from the Rotary Club of York Ainsty, they sort, wash, grade and package the glasses to send monthly shipments of glasses to people who would have otherwise been unable to have them. The team sends an average of 10,000 pairs overseas a year to numerous countries in Africa through Vision Aid Overseas (VAO) and other charities.