Vanuatu - Blue Planet Odyssey visits Bul Bul in SW Bay Malekula

Chief Esrom and the small community of Bul Bul, next to Lambinwen, in South West Bay in Malekula invited all BPO yachts to visit the. We went with them by church boat on the “lake” to get to the gardens where we picked up some nice fresh fruits and vegetables. Back at the church, we were surprised to be invited for a nice local lunch in Chief Esrom house. Since many of the BPO sailors are volunteer trained specialists in vision screening and members of the H.I.T. supporter team, we offered free eye testing to young and old. They lead all investigations to the best of their knowledge and belief. Participants are thus able to carry out visual acuity and autorefractor provisions under screenings conditions to children and adults. The project of H.I.T. Foundation: “SAVE CHILDREN’S SIGHT FOR A BETTER CHANCE IN LIFE” is able to detect visual defects of children, adolescents and young adults at an early stage. Approximately 20% of all children and young people have learning difficulties by undetected visual defects. Only if visual defects are detected and rectified early, children have good opportunities for learning, performance and a self-determined successful future. Some disclaimers: ˚ The H.I.T. vision screening is available, if there are no other or better options for vision correction onsite. ˚ The H.I.T. vision screening is as accurate as possible under the local circumstances. However, it does not measure up to the precise measurements taken and handled by an optician, optometrist or ophthalmologist in a professional environment! ˚ Therefore, neither the local examiner nor the H.I.T. Institute can be made liable for the results of the H.I.T. measurements and the effectiveness of the transferred eye-glasses. ˚ The final decision for participation in the H.I.T vision screening is made by the guardians/parents of the children and they are, therefore, fully responsible and not H.I.T. ˚ When there is no realistic possibility for an examination with an optometrist or at an eye clinic, there is a good chance that the H.I.T. vision screening program will detect visual defects and thus eye treatments can be applied in time. We later visited briefly the community of Ten Stick, led by Chief Ronald. A special thank you to Chief Esrom and his community for the warm welcome. Thanks also to Chief Ronald for the quick tour .. sorry we did not have more time to visit . Filmed in August 2015.