Eight-year-old Rorsynin is the baby of her family and doted on by her four siblings and her parents. The family lives in a remote village in Cambodia and they make their living by fishing in the nearby river.
Rorsynin had been attending the local government primary school for 3 years until one day she refused to go. Her parents were confounded. They never had the opportunity to go to school themselves and had always prioritized education in their family. They knew it would help their children to get a good job and dreamed of Rorsynin becoming a teacher. Yet they couldn’t convince her to go back to class.
In discussions with her teacher, Rorsynin’s parents learned that she always held her books close to her face to read and was no longer interested in playing with her friends.
They then asked Rorsynin herself what was holding her back. The answer was clear. She couldn’t see. Rorsynin told her parents that she didn’t want to go to school because she couldn’t see the lessons on the blackboard, the text in her books or her friends when they played outside. She would rather stay at home where she felt safe and not like a failure.
When Rorsynin’s father, Makara, learned that a free community eye screening was being held at the village chief’s home, he eagerly took his daughter. When the outreach worker examined Rorsynin’s vision he told her father that she needed to be seen by an ophthalmologist at the eye hospital.
Rorsynin having her vision tested
Makara and Rorsynin were transported to the eye hospital where she received an eye exam. “Your daughter needs to wear glasses because she has high myopia (nearsightedness),” said the eye doctor. Makara explained that he couldn’t afford the glasses that Rorsynin so desperately needed.
Rorsynin in her new glasses funded by Seva Canada donors
Thankfully, due to the support of donors like you, Rorsynin was provided with a pair of prescription glasses free of charge. As soon as she put them on she could finally see clearly. “I promise to go to school again, to study regularly. Now I can become a teacher!”
“I promise to go to school again, to study regularly. Now I can become a teacher!”
Roysynin’s parents thanked everyone at the eye hospital for providing the glasses that would enable their daughter to go back to school. “We will share our story with the people in our village so they can help their children with vision problems too.”
