Back to the grind

So we were back at work today - molding young minds to better the visual health of the Palestinian people. It was a good day. A short day. I should start by wishing all the ladies out there a Happy Mother's Day. It is mother's day here today and just like An-Najah University I'll be all inclusive and wish all women a happy day - all women but Swell that is. The school had some sort of lunch for the women today and all were invited but Swell, instead we were sent home. Fine by us as we were quite tired and ready for a relaxing afternoon.

We had an interesting week away.

A long trip found us arriving in Durban with not much to do on a Tuesday afternoon. We hoped to change money but were promptly forbidden by the hotel staff from leaving the hotel on our own. It seems that the entire tourist industry discourages tourists from going out on their own - fearing theft and bodily harm (it is South Africa after all). The hotel folks changed money for us instead. We were given our hotel room early so we were happy to have showers and then caught a taxi to the congress center to pick up our registration packages.

It was upon our arrival at the congress center and that we got the first inkling that this might be a big deal. All along the streets leading up to the center were light posts with signs advertising the World Congress on Refractive Error and Service Development. The congress center was large and nice and we had very little trouble getting our packages and heading back to the hotel.

We are not big meat eaters but when one is trapped away from normal restaurants and grocery stores one tends to desire things that would not normally be eaten. Our dinner for the first day were really tasty ribs from the hotel restaurant. So good that we actually had them on another day. It was a nice treat - albeit a messy one.

I won't go much into the details of the congress but suffice it to say that it was designed to share epidemiology and success/failures of refractive error care and the distribution of affordable and sustainable spectacles.

Many organizations were represented including Helen Keller International, Christian Blind Mission, Sight Savers International. It was not a conference for the types of organizations that conduct rapid vision camps distributing recycled spectacles and not worrying about long term care, although some were there - and their methods were questioned.

The congress was made up of many 10-15 minute presentations followed by discussion time. At the end the organizers presented the Durban Decleration (www.icee.org) which will become a reference document for refractive care in developing countries.

It was an experience to say the least. It was quite fun and educational. It led Swell and I to think a lot about what we're doing here. I believe that we are doing good but what happens when we leave? They are still without educators. Where will the students work? Will they have equipment, money, opportunity to open practices? A lot of questions that are, hopefully, being considered by someone, somewhere. We were also encouraged by some folks to do some research while we're here. We really don't have a lot of time remaining so we'll see if we can put something together.

One thing I am going to work on is raising funds for someone(s) to remain here until they graduate the first class of students. From that class I would hope the school could find and hire a couple of kids to become instructors. From our time here and the time someone is here next year there will be large amounts of notes and teaching materials created. All the new educators would need to do is review and understand it more. The negative is that these educators will have little to no patient experience. I would hope that we could raise enough money to allow someone with patient experience to come once or twice a semester to add that experience to the education.

If the money is raised who will come? We were told by numerous people in Durban that they were amazed that the dean of the optometry school here in Nablus was able to find people to come and lend a hand. Will they be able to find someone else? Do we want them to find someone else? What is another two semesters for us? Going home and working like dogs in commercial optometry for 2 months this summer and then having our flights/living expenses/and pay covered for a semester and then going home for Christmas/conferences only to return for 3 and a half more months. Sounds good to me but finances really stand in the way. We'll see. But we're looking forward to the next 10 weeks and then our time in Romania.

Check out pictures of our trip here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/xmattodx/