Vision Aid Overseas Poverty and the lack of skilled opticians affect millions of people who do not have the spectacles they desperately need. You can help change their lives. For those in the developing world with poor vision; education and employment are out of reach. Many find daily living difficult and dangerous. With the correct spectacles, people can learn, work and achieve a quality of life otherwise completely unobtainable. Vision Aid Overseas sends teams of professional volunteers abroad to carry out eye tests and provide spectacles. They train optical workers in developing countries in basic eye-testing techniques and set up optical workshops with a view towards helping countries towards self sufficiency. Since 1985 VAO has sent 130 teams to 18 different countries, examined over 500,000 people with impaired vision and dispensed over 250,000 pairs of spectacles. Ethiopia is a country of 60 million people without a single qualified optician. By contrast, the UK has over 10,000 qualified optometrists and 5,000 dispensing opticians. To find out further information about Vision Aid Overseas visit www.vao.org.uk