Turning points: August 07 – Jane Kierath

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Everyday life can often get in the way, but you can still follow your heart. By Karen Spresser and Josephine Brouard.

Jane Kierath, 29, took her volunteer work to a new level after helping victims of the 2004 tsunami.

“My father worked for the United Nations, so perhaps that has given me more of a global perspective than most. We lived in Bangladesh when I was younger and when we came home I realised that living in Australia was like winning the lottery! 

“Later, after training as an optometrist at the University of New South Wales, I went into private practice. I also spent much of my annual leave volunteering my services in less developed countries. When the call came after the 2004 tsunami for volunteers to go to Sri Lanka, I didn’t hesitate. It was distressing to see the tragic conditions the tsunami survivors were living in, but there was so much work to be done and so little time I didn’t have the chance to dwell on it. It was only after my return to Australia that everything I’d experienced began to hit me. 

“The tsunami damage to the Sri Lankan people was not only physical but emotional and spiritual – people were struggling to make sense of their up-ended world. Plus, eye care is practically non-existent in the areas where we worked. We went to Sri Lanka to replace glasses that were lost in the tsunami, but what we discovered was the vast majority of people there have never had an eye examination. I cannot describe to you what it is like to give someone a simple pair of glasses and to witness their joy, and often amazement, when they realise they can see.

“I met many wonderful people in the village of Akkaraipattu, including a 20-year-old boy, Sri, who could speak English and wanted to help. We desperately needed translators, so we were delighted to have him with us, and though the conditions were appalling – plastic tents in blazing heat – he stuck with us all the way. When he saw the work we did – testing and diagnosing people with eyesight problems and helping thousands to see for the first time – he asked for training because he so wanted to help his own people.

“It was then that I began to consider leaving private practice to work for the International Centre for Eyecare Education. I realised this was the kind of work I should be concentrating on: work that makes a difference. I can train one person – just one – and they can then make a huge difference to thousands of lives.

“I’ve been working full-time for the Centre now for 20 months. It’s more work for less money, but infinitely more satisfying. I’ve since returned to Sri Lanka many times and, in that time, the Centre’s team has examined more than 33,000 people, distributed more than 28,000 pairs of spectacles, referred nearly 2000 people for hospital services, and trained 15 eye-care workers, including Sri.

“Working for the Centre has been life-changing for me. I’ve discovered the immense difference just one person can make. Mine is a crazy, busy life, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Earlier this year I travelled to South Africa to present a paper to other eye-care professionals about our work in Sri Lanka, and I recently returned from China where I cycled nearly 400 kilometres to raise $5000 for the work we do. The money we raised can buy thousands more spectacles to give more people their basic right to sight. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do – I feel extraordinarily blessed.”

Giving sight

Globally, at least 250 million people are blind or visually impaired, simply because they don’t have access to an eye examination or a pair of glasses. Founded in 1998, the International Centre for Eyecare Education is a task force member of the World Health Organization’s ‘VISION 2020: The Right to Sight’ global initiative, which is aimed at eliminating avoidable blindness by the year 2020. As a not-for-profit, non-government organisation, it assists developing countries to improve their capacity to deliver quality eye-care programs by training eye-care personnel and  offering affordable treatment. Did you know that just five dollars can provide a new pair of glasses to a person in need?

For more information and ways you can help, visit www.icee.org.

Photography: Scott Hawkins. Styling: Sinead O’Shea. Hair & make-up: David Novak-Piper.