Nigerian guest thanks Lions club for glasses

MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake Lions Club received a thank you from a member of the Nigerian House of Assembly Monday night.

The club arranged for 1,600 pairs of glasses to go on a medical trip to the Pategi and the city of Ilorin in Nigeria. They were accompanied by Dr. Milt Herman, a Wenatchee-based optometrist. The patients were screened for glaucoma, cataracts and other eye diseases.

"Prescription glasses and medications were freely given to many who had never seen a doctor previously," Frances Irwin said, reading from a letter from Herman. "Something we noted was the need for reading glasses happened earlier by about 10 years than in my home practice."

The 1,600 glasses were cleaned and organized before they were sent to Nigeria, Irwin said. The ones that weren't handed out during the trip were left with professionals to be handed out later.

"All he had to do was go through the box and they were segregated out into the kinds of glasses and the strength of the glasses," Irwin said. "They were packaged beautifully and very, very easy for him to distribute."

In response, to the gift Aliyu Ahman-Pategi, a member of the Nigerian House of Assembly came to thank the Lions club.

"It's one thing to say, OK, Lateef, when you get to Moses Lake say 'thank you' for us,'" Lateef Olaniyan, one of the people who organized the trip, said. "But on the other hand, for the people who receive our gifts to come personally and express their appreciation, so basically that's what they're here for."

Ahman-Pategi said the trip was the first time he had an eye exam in his life.

"A lot of my countrymen have never seen an eye doctor. One of the highlights of the week was the 1,600 eye glasses (that were donated by the club,)" he said. "That is an act of kindness that we can never reward, all we can say is 'thank you.'"