Used eyeglasses Newspaper carrier helps needy
Bonn · A Sri Lankan native initiated a project to provide the needy in his home country with eyeglasses. He will keep on collecting.
His table was full of used eyeglasses. They were colorful, sober, metal, plastic, round, rectangular, sunglasses and normal glasses. “In my homeland of Sri Lanka, there are many poor people who urgently need eyeglasses. I can send these glasses which are no longer in use to the people there,” said Tilakasiri Gunatilake. The 66-year-old has lived in Germany for decades and works with his wife and daughter as a newspaper carrier for the General-Anzeiger. On the side, he collects eyeglasses.
Gunatilake said it is not so expensive to get the right lenses in Sri Lanka but the frames are unaffordable for many people. “We come from Kandy, an old royal city in Sri Lanka. That’s why I have named my charity project ‘Brillenhilfe Kandy’ (Eyeglass help for Kandy). He has been running the project for two years now and has also given thought to how he can raise money to buy lenses for the poorest of the poor. Together with a Sri Lankan acquaintance in southern Germany, they sent out 3,000 pairs of glasses a year ago to be distributed amongst the poor in Sri Lanka.
Gunatilake also received help from Gregor Schürmann, his employer who runs the newspaper distribution services in Bad Godesberg and Wachtberg. Says Schürmann, “I have worn glasses since I was a kid. It’s really true that we often keep our old eyeglasses, thinking maybe we will use them again but we never do.” At home, he found four or five pair he wasn’t using and donated them to the project. He spread the word around to people he knew and soon they had dozens of used eyeglasses. Schürmann said he was very moved by a video of Gunatilake in Sri Lanka. “The video showed Mr. Gunatilake and his helpers handing out the glasses. A line of needy people wanting to get the used glasses had already formed at 3 a.m.” The line was a kilometer long and the 3,000 used eyeglasses were gone just like that. “Around 500 people didn’t get glasses and Mr. Gunatilake still wanted to help them,” remarked Schürmann.
An Optometrist in Gunzenhausen jumped in to support the project, as well as one in Brühl. They got another 1,000 used frames together and Gunatilake sent them to Sri Lanka in October. Another 380 pairs have been collected at home recently and were laid out on the table for GA to photograph. They are already on their way now to Sri Lanka where his contact in the country arranges to hand them out to the needy.
“I will keep collecting them. I am sure there are plenty of people who have unused eyeglasses lying around,” commented Gunatilake. Schürmann will also support the ongoing effort by writing to Optometrists in the region to ask for their help. More information is available at: Brillenhilfe-SriLanka@gmx.de
Orig. text: Ebba Hagenberg-Miliu
