In South Sudan we are working together with Mobile Health International and Water Harvest International. Both organisations are funded by the Radler Foundation and share a compound in Wudu. Water Harvest International focus mainly on drilling clean water wells in the area while Mobile Health International is an outreach program. Every week they travel to a nearby village, set up camp for a few days and provide medical aid to that community.

We only had a week in South Sudan, so to make the most of our time there we decided it would be best to prioritize training the staff at MHI and WHI how to dispense Eyejusters. Also, there was no way we would be able to dispense all the 270 pairs of eyejusters in less than one week, and it was important to make sure they felt ready to take over when we left and continue the project without us.

Near the end of our stay in South Sudan we got to come along for an outreach to the village of Pure. Even though Pure is not that far away from the MHI compound in terms of distance, it is a tough long drive to get there. There are not many paved roads in Kajo Keji and the dirt roads get pretty beat up during rain season.

Once we got to Pure we looked to find a suitable spot to set up the testing stations. We had no walls and no roof available to set up a testing station so we decided to stick the distance vision charts to the Landcruiser and to place a chair in the shade of a tree. This worked out fine and illustrates how suited the eyejusters are for distribution in poor rural areas where flexibility is key.

We tested the villagers' vision for two days. MHI and WHI staff alternated between providing medical aid, translating and vision testing. We got to test a lot of people and to dispense a good number of glasses. We saw a lot of elderly people as many of the younger adults had gone to the market to prepare for South Sudan's first independence day. It was a great opportunity for the staff to do some final practicing in the field while we were there for support.