I am in my second year of studying Optometry at Anglia Ruskin University. As someone who embraces and is passionate about any challenge put before them, I have decided to form my own challenge- one that has direct relevance to my course, interests and aspirations. Throughout my optometry course and via the charity “Optometry Giving Sight”, it has become apparent to me that millions of people worldwide are going blind and visually impaired just because they don’t have access to an eye examination or a pair of glasses. To me this seems absurd, when, as a student Optometrist, the very skills that I am learning on a daily basis can drastically improve a person’s quality of life in such a simple way. This lack of vision care is particularly a problem in developing countries, made even more so by the fact that in these countries agriculture and manual labour are the main forms of employment, for which visual impairment can be debilitating and often renders the individual unemployable. For this reason I feel it necessary to show my support to Optometry Giving Sight who tackles this issue head on by providing long term solutions. From a young age I have regularly ventured in to the Yorkshire Dales to go hiking and caving and therefore feel a strong connection with its landscape and wild serenity. For this reason I feel there is no better place to take on a challenge for my charity than the Yorkshire Dales and consequently, no better challenge than the infamous Yorkshire 3 peaks- a fell run that has been a great aspiration of mine for some time.
Fundraising pageOptometry Giving Sight aims to improve and prevent the drastically reduced quality of life of the approximate 670 million people around the world who are currently blind or visually impaired, just because they don’t have access to eye examinations by qualified Optometrists and to a pair of glasses. They enable successful long term solutions by funding programmes that provide: •Vision care – eye exams, low-cost eye glasses and low-vision devices •Training - optometrists, eye care professionals and teachers •Infrastructure- establishing and developing eye clinics, schools of optometry and vision centres in the community. However, running the 3 peaks on March 24th 2013 is not only to raise funds for sustainable, quality vision care through Optometry Giving Sight but to also inform and raise awareness of avoidable blindness to local communities, optometry practices and optometry schools throughout the UK. Finally, on behalf of myself and Optometry Giving Sight, all donations for my 3 peaks challenge will be very much appreciated, big or small and can be made via my page “1 Vision, 2 Give Sight, 3 Peaks To Run” at http://www.justgiving.com/Jessica-Chatwin. Here and via the 3 Peaks Challenge website I hope to show updates of my training progress as I aim to complete one peak each month prior to running all 3, on 30/12/12, 12/01/13 and 23/02/13- Pen-y-ghent, Whernside, Ingleborough respectively.
Charity website
The Yorkshire Peaks Challenge involves climbing Pen-y-ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside, often within 12 hours.