Why did you enroll in this course (motivation, prior interests)? 

In today’s world, tragic news stories seem to be flooding the internet and at times, it can be hard not to feel helpless.   You want to help but with a world full of problems, where does one begin? This class gives Lehigh students the ability to create long term change by fixing the systems that are supposed to be helping people.  It is a way of doing service that will provide long term relief instead of short term fixes. I enrolled in this course because it provides the opportunity to develop new skills and impact others in a non-traditional classroom setting.  I have also spent a lot of time learning about different issues regarding gender within my field of Sociology so I’m incredibly excited to get the opportunity to apply what I’ve learned to real-world issues. 

How do you envision this course making you a better student? 

I believe this course will make me a better student by providing me the opportunity to work with people from other disciplines.   Once you declare your major, you typically have the same handful of students in all your classes. You start to see the same faces over and over, which isn’t a bad thing but it can feel limiting at times.  This course will give me the skills to work with people who may tackle problem-solving differently than how I solve problems. Everyone has different approaches and being able to see from someone else’s point of view is incredibly important.  In the working world, we are going to have to work on teams with people we might not see eye to eye with so having this experience in college is incredibly beneficial.  I also believe this course will offer me a new perspective on my own life.  I have been lucky enough to live a privileged life and being able to remove myself from that will help me think critically about the life I’ve lived and plan to live.  

The World Health Organization estimates that over one billion people who need eyeglasses do not have access to them. The vast majority of these people live in developing countries like Kenya where there is barely one optometrist per one million people. Given the high poverty levels, access to eyeglasses is almost nonexistent. Lack of proper eyeglasses severely impacts people and their livelihoods by decreasing their productivity at work, limiting or eliminating new opportunities, affecting their quality of life, deteriorating their general health and possibly leading to (preventable) blindness. What solution do you propose to address this problem?

There isn’t always a quick and easy solution to problems in the world.  In this instance, I would first look at the lack of optometrists in developing countries.  A lack of eye doctors means a lack of knowledge or understanding of eye diseases and preventable blindness.  Education for the public is key in bringing an issue to the forefront. If people don’t know the symptoms, how are they suppose to know that there is even a problem, to begin with?  Training and teaching Community Health Workers and clinics about the risks and symptoms of eye diseases would be incredibly beneficial in spreading awareness of these issues. Implementing vision tests at clinics would help people catch their vision issues before they got severe while also starting a dialogue about these health concerns.  Just being able to identify vision problems in communities with no optometrists on a more regular basis would benefit so many lives. Creating cost-effective glasses would also be another step to take. Since most people in developing countries tend to have lower-incomes, creating a pair of glasses that are affordable and durable is incredibly important to minimize this issue. Using 3D printers could help with the efficiency of building the product while also making sure they are durable.  Since there is limited access to optometrists and disposable income, making sure the glasses won’t break or need to be replaced is incredibly important. There are rarely quick fixes to long term problems so creating smaller steps to reach a bigger goal is key in solving sometimes seemingly impossible issues.