The“Sight and Life in My Life” Essay Competition

12The “Sight and Life in My Life” Essay CompetitionThe “Sight and Lifein My Life”Essay CompetitionIn the last issue of Sight and Life Magazine, we revealed theresults of our essay competition and shared Abubakar Bulakoand Prince Abugri’s winning entries with our readers. However,given that we received many other fascinating storieson how Sight and Life has influenced our readers, we arenow pleased to share some of the highlights with you, in theform of abridged extracts from the many wonderful entrieswe received. Some entries touched on entrants’ personalexperiences, some examined Sight and Life’s impact on theircommunity, while others defined Sight and Life in ways thatwere simple, accessible and memorable.Meanwhile, Muditha Vitharana, a secondary school scienceteacher from Ratnapura, Sri Lanka, came into contact withSight and Life through an art competition. Her Eighth Gradestudents took part, and one was a prize-winner. Sight and Lifeis now part of her life, and that of her students. Muditha hastaught them to think about nutrition, as well as how to growvegetables, fruit and green leaves. She has also initiatedthe use of a traditional Sri Lankan drink called Kola Kanda,which is enriched with vitamin A. “I have changed mystudents’ attitudes, and I hope to use them to spread thiswisdom throughout the community,” she writes.Appreciating the value of nutritionMaulline Akumu, for example, who is from Nairobi, Kenya,had never heard of Sight and Life until five years ago, atHigh School, when she experienced headaches, and pain andnumbness in her feet, and was diagnosed with a multivitamindeficiency and mineral imbalance. A simple eye irritationthen worsened, so she found herself losing her vision.An ophthalmologist told her about Sight and Life’s researchinto vitamins, and suggested that her diminished visualperception was the result of vitamin and mineral deficiency.She explains what happened next:“Through Sight and Life, I learned a lot of things aboutnutrition, such as the nutritional benefits of orange-fleshedsweet potatoes. But for Sight and Life, I would probably notbe telling this story, as I would have lost my vision and wouldbe hospitalized somewhere with diverse nutritional diseases.Although I ended up with myopia, it’s better than living incomplete darkness. I’ve been able to improve my diet and Itry to educate others around me through my own personalexperience. Most people now appreciate the value of investingin their health by adopting proper dietary plans, and payingmore attention to the nutritional value of what they put intotheir mouths. More importantly, the role of nutritionistsis being appreciated now more than ever.”Raising awareness of vitamin A capsules atChaitanya Mahila Mandhali school

sIGHT AND LIFE | Vol. 25 (3) | 2011The “Sight and Life in My Life” Essay Competition13A dream come trueDr Okey Egboluche, from the Department of Ophthalmology,Federal Medical Centre, in Ebonyi State, Nigeria, first encounteredSight and Life as a student optometrist. Throughouthis career, Dr Egboluche has benefited from its support, bothin Nigeria and abroad, and has aimed to use this to help hisfellow man in numerous projects. His work culminated in aSight and Life grant to proceed with his master’s degree inhealth sciences (public health) at the University of Teeside,UK. “It was a dream come true – my family still talk about it,”he writes. Although he was denied a visa to study becausethe course start date was too close, he will always cherishSight and Life’s support. “I still believe there will be other opportunitiesto partner with Sight and Life in improving thelot of mankind,” he says.Essay competition extracts“As a nurse, midwife and health educator, Sight and Life haswidened the scope of my nutrition knowledge. I have sharedthis with family, friends, mothers, expectant and nursingmothers, school children, teachers, colleagues, other healthworker-nutritionists, nursing students, and midwifery andcommunity health officers in training, etc. It has a ‘multipliereffect.’” Asomugha Virginia, Institute of Child Health,Unth Enugu, Nigeria“I decided to arrange a health education program, updatingmy knowledge with the help of Sight and Life Magazine. Istarted up health education programs for pregnant mothersin antenatal clinics, where I have been teaching them aboutmicronutrients, including vitamin A. As a result, most of themhave changed their food habits. I’ve also trained our field midwivesand health workers to teach primary school childrenabout nutrition. Sight and Life Magazine has been a handbookfor our health education program.”Dr OVS Vitarana, Blood Bank, Provincial General Hospital,Ratnapura, Sri LankaPeople in Ekondo Titi, Ndian Division, South West Cameroonlearn about the importance of receiving vitamin A capsules“Our involvement with Sight and Life can be expressed interms of receiving and dispatching nutritional knowledge.This automatically and directly affects the lives of the peoplewho might otherwise die within the next week. Saving life isthe greatest love Sight and Life owes to humanity.”Didier Kheambo, Executive Director, Solidarity Healthand Development Effort (Sohdecam), Republic of Cameroon⇢