Glasses for the Children in Milagros – Better Vision for a positive Future
In addition to our school projects in Milagros and La Unión, we have been working with the organization Salud a la Escuela since last year to improve healthcare for children. An important part of this collaboration is vision testing, which would otherwise be out of reach for many children in rural areas like Paya.
During our stay, the Salud a la Escuela team traveled to Milagros to assess the students’ vision. The four children from the school in La Unión also joined for the examination. For all of them, it was the first time their eyes had been professionally checked, as financial resources and access to vision tests or glasses had previously been lacking.
To prepare the children and their parents for the topic, the day started with a small workshop. It covered not only how to properly handle glasses but also their practical benefits in daily life: how important good vision is for learning, why glasses can make life easier, and how we can work together to prevent children with glasses from being excluded or teased. Salud a la Escuela did a fantastic job of encouraging the children from the very beginning. Their initial nervousness quickly turned into curiosity, and by the time they tried on different glasses models, excitement and joy filled the room.
At the end of the day, it became clear that eight children and two teachers would need glasses in the future. For some, they will be sufficient for school, while others will rely on them permanently. Good vision is not only a relief in everyday life but also a crucial foundation for long-term eye health. Therefore, it brings us great joy to be able to provide eye tests and glasses to the children in Milagros, as well as to many more people in the future.
The importance of early diagnosis and correction is also highlighted by the World Health Organization (WHO): worldwide, at least one billion people live with a vision impairment that could have been prevented or treated. Especially for children, undetected vision problems can have long-term consequences, ranging from delayed language, motor, and social development to lower academic performance. Poor eyesight that goes untreated also affects adulthood, leading to reduced career opportunities, lower productivity, and a higher risk of mental health conditions such as depression (WHO, 2023).
How significant the impact is in daily school life in Milagros became even clearer in our conversation with Lorena, a speech therapist. Some of the concentration difficulties she has observed can likely be traced directly to untreated vision problems.
We are incredibly grateful to have been able to help alongside Salud a la Escuela. Every pair of glasses now being worn makes the school day a little easier for these children.
