Joel’s now top of his class thanks to his magnifying glass and telescope

My story

After an unsuccessful operation, Joel thought he’d never be able to read and do well at school.

Joel Allotey is 12 years old and describes his visual impairment as something he was born with. Both his mother and brother also have bad vision. One of his eyes was a lot worse than the other and so he had it operated on a few years ago. Unfortunately the surgery was unsuccessful, making his vision worse.  

As a result, he now relies on the other eye: “Reading from a blackboard at school was impossible and my academic performance was affected” said Joel. Education is very important in his family. His father works for the Ghanaian Ministry of Agriculture and his mother writes mathematic books.

How we helped
Joel visited the refractive and Low Vision Unit in the Koforidua hospital to see if his vision can be improved at all. He was prescribed a magnifying glass and telescope to assist him at school.

These items have made an incredible difference for Joel. He can now read from the blackboard and his text books. Not only this, but he’s coming top of his class in the school exams!

Without the worry of his performance at school, he can now relax and have fun with his friends like any other 12 year old.

With vision centres expanding in Ghana, more and more people are getting access to visual aids like the magnifying glass and telescope which Joel was given.