Source/Credit: Humanity First - USA
By Staff Reporter | March 18, 2012
Samiya Ijaz, a 16 year-old student at Pacific Ridge School and a resident of San Diego, is helping put humanity first through her volunteering with the Girl Scouts of America.
Ijaz, who began wearing glasses at a young age, soon realized that while she is able to correct her vision problem with eyeglasses, there are many people in the world who cannot remedy their temporary blindness so easily.
Samiya Ijaz has been a Girl Scout for several years.
A dedicated and active troop member, Ijaz has completed the Girl Scout Silver Award in 2009 and the GirlTopia – Toward an Ideal World for Girls journey in October 2010.
Samiya Ijaz created the “Eyewear For All” project for receiving the Girl Scout Gold Award, which will be awarded after successful completion of the project and her educational program was one of the few that was selected for Girl Scout Gold Award.
“There is an extreme lack of awareness among people like me who wear glasses," said Samiya Ijaz. "We can benefit others who cannot see, only because they have no access to glasses."
"I am certain that many households have eyewear that could be put to good use by others," explains Ijaz, "Many around the world are at a health and economic disadvantage because of correctable visual impairment."
"So, my goal is educating and informing audiences primarily here in San Diego, California and potentially throughout Southern California,” says Samiya.
Samiya Ijaz has teamed up with Gift of Sight initiative by Humanity First, USA, who seeks to cure blindness by sending eye care teams abroad to help those in need by setting up eye camps for adults and children, teaching local health care professionals new techniques to treat eye diseases, and donating medications, eyeglasses and equipment.
Along with the presentations and literature Samiya will share in her local community, she plans to leave donation boxes for recycled eyewear at each site she visits and she is further collaborating with Lion’s Club International and Humanity First’s Gift of Sight team to have the eyewear delivered to underserved communities in Central America and Africa.
Not only will the “Eyewear for All” project create awareness about the lack of basic eye care in underserved communities, said Humanity First USA, but Samiya will also be collecting eyewear.
Humanity First USA’s Gift of Sight team travels to Guatemala each year to perform cataract surgeries and provide full eye exams to patients in rural communities. With Samiya’s help, the team will be able to provide the Gift of Sight to even more deserving individuals through her collection of eyewear.
Dr. Ahsan Khan, Director of the Gift of Sight program, will serve as the mentor for Samiya's project.
He states, "Samiya is an exceptionally bright and motivated young talent, said Dr Khan. "We look forward to seeing the fruits of this well-conceived and inspirational project.”
Samiya’s compassion and desire to help others is an inspiring example that proves there are no limits or guidelines to helping humanity and giving the gift of sight.
Read original source here: Young Volunteer Approved for Girls Scouts Gold Award Project, Helps Give Gift of Sight
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