July 24, 2010 saw ORBIS Macau host a “Hope in Sight” Experience Day Camp at Centro de Formacao Juvenil D. Bosco Lar de Juventude. All 60 attendees at the event experienced a unique taste of the difficulties blind people face every day. This year is the first time ORBIS Macau has organized such an experiential day camp for its supporters. The ultimate aim was to demonstrate what it must be like to be live life in total darkness.

“ORBIS believes that everyone has the right to sight. Sadly, needlessly blind people often not only suffer from a physical eye disease, but also others’ unintentional thoughtlessness and sometimes even prejudice. We hope that this experiential day camp will help to redress this imbalance by spreading the eye care message further among the community”, said Ms Mary Lau, ORBIS Director of Development, Hong Kong.

Conquering darkness by experiencing blindness

Day camp participants were divided into five teams which each had to organize and perform specific tasks. While designed to be fun, all activities drove home the difficulties facing the blind. Everyone initially felt very nervous about ‘surrendering’ their eyesight in exchange for a blindfold. Starting with a gentle warm up game, participants gradually immersed themselves in what it must be like to be sightless. Ultimately, even simple tasks like tying one’s shoelaces become incredibly frustrating when one cannot see! Happily, team members quickly began using their other senses and asking their team mates for help. Parents who joined the day camp with their children were especially keen to share the importance of taking good care of their eyes with their youngsters.

This year, ORBIS Macau was delighted to have Voluntary Faculty Member, Dr. Timothy Lai from Hong Kong share his recent experiences on an ORBIS sight-saving mission to India. Millions of Indians live in unimaginable poverty, with disease and infection spreading like wildfire through unsanitary slums. The country’s serious shortage of ophthalmological facilities is another reason for its alarmingly high blindness levels. Said Dr. Lai: “There is nothing worse for a doctor than having to tell a patient his or her sight has gone forever because of delayed treatment. It is my great honor to be part of the ORBIS medical volunteer team that is trying to stop such tragedies from happening.”

ORBIS would like to thank Insitituto Para os Assuntos Civicos e Municipais for helping sponsor part of the expenses for the day care camp.