Published: Wednesday, 11th March, 2009 12:00pm

Unite for Sara, Unite for sight

Looking at the world through someone else"s eyes is often considered but one Cavan Girl has gone one step further in a bid to prevent blindness. Sara Leddy of Innishconnel will volunteer with Unite For Sight in Tamale, Ghana from May 1 to 23 this year, with her goal being to prevent people becoming needlessly blind, but she needs your support! ' It"s something I always wanted to do and when I do medicine I would like to work in Africa for a while, this will give me the opportunity to get experience of working in a clinic in Africa whilst volunteering,' says Sara.

She will be fundraising for Unite for Sight on St. Patrick"s Day in Belturbet with several events lined up. 'My dad and the band he plays in "The Painkillers" will play in the Mad Ass on St Patrick"s Day,' says Sara.

Leg waxing will also take place with some well-known locals such as Footballer Jason Reilly, School Principal Terry Leddy, Shane Reynolds, Martin Gorby and Francie Reynolds giving up their time and their hair to help Sara raise a minimum of $1500 for the worthy cause of "Unite for sight".

'Eighty per cent of all blindness in these countries is preventable and 36 million people worldwide are needlessly blind,' says Sara.

She became interested in volunteering with Unite For Sight when she learned that blindness is usually preventable and curable in the developing world.

'I came across Unite for Sight online, I decided I wanted to go and got in touch with the organisation and arranged and paid for my flights,' says Sara adding that 'A lot of people who have been there before have set up projects and societies within their local communities making people more away of the situations out there, it all helps,' says Sara.

This 23 year old has just finished a degree in Science and will be starting medicine in The Queen Mary in London next year. 'At the moment I"m working as a nurse's aid in St Mary"s in the Phoenix Park, to gain experience, I"m hoping volunteering in Africa will help me gain more experience,' says Sara.

Well one thing for sure, Sara is not wasting her year out but doing everything within her power to make a difference and gain work experience.

'Cataracts are the main cause of blindness, it only costs 50 dollars to operate on them to prevent blindness, and it is a one-hour surgery. It tends to occur mostly in older people, but younger people can get cataracts also due to malnutrition,' says Sara.

This young woman is determined to do the best that she can and is fundraising to the best of her ability. 'I shadowed Dr Richard O"Regan an Ophthalmologist in Cavan General for a week in January to get experience in eye health and detecting cataracts. It"s something that the charity gets everyone to do. I also collected 300 pairs of glasses from Geraldine Sheehan"s, which I"ll be bringing with me for the clinic,' says Sara.

With all her online courses done in eye disease, eye health and cultural competency, Sara believes she is ready for the next step. 'Unite for Sight prepare you in every possible way as people coming from the Western world where everything is clean and everyone has money, may feel badly isolated and withdraw from the group so this gives us the preview as to how we need to prepare and react,' says Sara.

Unite For Sight sponsors all of the eye care programs, including providing patients with free surgery so that no patient remains blind due to lack of funds. To date, Unite For Sight has provided eye care to more than 600,000 patients worldwide, including more than 20,108 sight-restoring surgeries.

St.Patrick's day in Belturbet is all about unite for Sara this year, in an effort to raise some money for a worthy charity and send one caring and inspiring girl on her way to making a difference in life. Show your support!!

To contribute to Sara"s fundraising efforts, contact Sara at sleddy@tcd.ie you may also send a cheque made out to Unite For Sight to Sara Leddy, Innishconnel, Lough Oughter, Co Cavan.