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Khmer Sight Foundation 01/04/23 trip to Kampot

opinons, thoughts, photography, pictures, voluntary

The Khmer Sight Foundation’s Saturday pre-assessment trip to Kampot was a huge success. Travelling early in the morning to a location 175 kilometres from Phnom Penh and setting up, assisted by local health personnel, to see over 100 people with suspected eye issues.
Each client had a basic eye exam before being evaluated by the attending doctor to discover any underlying eye disorders.
Any patient who has a detected eye condition will be invited to the clinic in Phnom Penh to have the necessary surgery at no cost in the near future.

http://khmersight.com/

The Khmer Sight Foundation is a non-profit organization that aims to eliminate avoidable blindness in Cambodia by training local eye care professionals and providing free eye surgeries to the poor. Founded in 2015 by His Excellency Sean Ngu and the late Dr Kim Frumar, the foundation works with international partners and volunteers to improve the quality and accessibility of eye care services in Cambodia.

According to the foundation’s website, over 180,000 Cambodians are blind, and 90% of blindness is avoidable. The main causes of blindness are cataracts, uncorrected vision, glaucoma, corneal scarring and pterygium. Cambodia has one of the lowest numbers of eye specialist doctors per capita in the world, and most of the poor live in rural areas where there is little or no eye care available.

The Khmer Sight Foundation’s mission is to train the next generation of eye care health professionals in Cambodia so that the country can become self-reliant in the provision of high-quality, safe and effective eye care. The foundation selects local graduates to study internationally on scholarships to further their education in ophthalmology and pass on their training. It also develops surgical and diagnostic skills and provides scholarships abroad to train in sub-specialities that are lacking in Cambodia, such as corneal and retinal issues and paediatric conditions.

The foundation also runs a charitable mission offering free cataract surgery based at multiple charitable hospitals in Phnom Penh. The foundation’s volunteer health workers visit remote rural communities to conduct eye screenings and provide basic instructions on eye hygiene. International specialists help by not only providing training but also conducting free surgery for the poorest people in Cambodia. These surgeries are life-changing and make a tangible difference to local communities.

The Khmer Sight Foundation is a remarkable example of how local and international collaboration can help address a major health issue in a developing country. By empowering local eye care professionals and providing free eye care services to the needy, the foundation is helping to restore the gift of sight to many thousands of Cambodians.

Khmer Sight Foundation. Assessment trip to Kampot Area 2023

cambodia, opinons, thoughts, photography, pictures, voluntary

What a busy two days spent working hard, by the team, to identify the people with the greatest need for further treament. The team assessed over 350 people over the 2 days with over 100 people needing further treatment.

The team was supported by the local administration which provided support staff from various clinics in the area.

10,000 Cambodians suffer avoidable blindness each year. 90% of blindness is avoidable with the right care and skilled doctors to provide it. Sadly Cambodia has one of the lowest numbers of eye specialist doctors per capita in the world. Many people living in rural areas have no access to eye care, meaning their Cataracts, uncorrected vision, glaucoma, corneal scarring and pterygium go untreated.

All the people from KSF are volunteers and provide their skills and expertise without charge. They work hard and long in difficult conditions without complaint to try and provide this much-needed service to the Cambodian people.

Want to know more : http://khmersight.com/

Want to know more : http://khmersight.com/ Want to help or donate to save somebodies sight.

On the Riverside in Phnom Penh, Cambodia 04/03/23

cambodia, cameras, Fujichrome, fujifilm, Lenses, opinons, thoughts, photography, pictures, street

Fujifilm XT2 + XF 16 – 80 f4

Khmer Sight Foundation

cambodia, opinons, thoughts, photography, pictures, voluntary

I am spending some time volunteering with the Khmer Sight Foundation which helps people with vision problems. It is a free service funded by donations and costs the patient nothing.

Initially the people are very wary and scared as they don’t really understand what is going to happen to them, many probably have been treated badly in the past and are reluctant to take advantage of the service. This seems to change quite quicly once they realise that they will be treated with kindness and understanding, but getting them to that point I understand can be quite a challenge.

http://khmersight.com/

to donate or find out more

Fujifilm X100 Original

cambodia, cameras, Fujichrome, fujifilm, opinons, thoughts, photography, pictures, street, Travel

A great little old camera, 12 years old to be exact. I have not used it for a while as the old batteries had died and finding new ones here in Phnom Penh proved difficult, but not impossible as I eventually found 2 but in two different shops. Glad I did as I had almost forgotten how good the JPEG images from this camera can be. The images seen here were taken yesterday on a short walk (10 km) around the city. The camera is so lite that this is easy to do, easy on the back but not on the feet.

Nikon D3s DSLR

cambodia, cameras, Lenses, opinons, thoughts, photography, pictures

A few months ago, on a whim, I picked up a well-used but still perfectly functioning Nikon D3s. This was a camera I had always desired but could never afford (at over $5000 when new). It’s a heavy old beast with a FF sensor of only 12MP. My current Fuji cameras have twice that, but does it matter to me.

Why would I choose to go backward I am sure a few people would ask. I had a few Nikkor lenses that I used with my Nikon D2HS and wanted to try these out just for fun. After getting the camera set up to use in the way I like I was really impressed with the results. Yes a little more care had to be taken with composition and framing due to the size of the sensor, but the results impressed me.

My first experiments with the old Nikkors that I had impressed me so much I started looking around at other lenses. I ended up buying, very reasonably from Japan, a Nikon 85mm f1.8D and locally a 50mm f1.8G both of which give satisfying results and great bokeh.

The thing I did notice was the AF ability which certainly was really fast and accurate, in some instances faster that my new fujis. The added weight I did not find to be a problem in shooting just in carrying it around for long periods. The weight seemed to stabilise it with in built stabilisation.

The lenses I picked up could only be described as Nikkor and were contrasty and sharp even wide open which was no less than I would have expected.

This is a 12-year-old camera and in some ways, its functions are definitely lagging behind the new breed of mirrorless as would be expected, but it is still more than capable of taking superb quality images. Do I regret purchasing it, as my son says NO WAY !!!!

Kids Dental Service is a Voluntary Effort.

cambodia, cameras, fujifilm, Lenses, opinons, thoughts, photography, pictures, Travel, voluntary

The new incarnation of KIDS International Dental Services was first brought to Cambodia by Dr Bob Renner and now trying to re-emerge from Covid restrictions, under new leadership, to bring Dental volunteers teams to Cambodia again.

The fundamental mission of Kids International Dental Services (KIDS) is to provide pro-bono dental care to impoverished children in developing countries. Other aspects of our mission include: (a) providing a platform for young dental professionals to perform community service world wide, (b) providing an opportunity for young adults to part take in social service and encourage them to innovate projects to serve disadvantaged youths in developing areas of the world. 

A Trip to Kampot, Cambodia

cambodia, fujifilm, Lenses, opinons, thoughts, photography, pictures, street, Travel, Uncategorized

Kampot is a city in southern Cambodia and the capital of Kampot Province. It is on the Praek Tuek Chhu River southeast of the Elephant Mountains and around 5 km from the Gulf of Thailand. Kampot was the capital of the Circonscription Résidentielle de Kampot under French rule and Cambodia’s most important seaport after the loss of the Mekong Delta and before the establishment of Sihanoukville. Its centre is, unlike most Cambodian provincial capitals, composed of 19th-century French colonial architecture. The region and town are known for high-quality pepper, which is exported worldwide. It is also known for its Kampot fish sauce, and durian. The government and the Ministry of Culture and Fine Art have been preparing documents to nominate The Old Town of Kampot for admission to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list since 2017.

In recent years since 2010s, Kampot has been subject to extensive tourism development with the development of a tourism port worth US$8 million under the Kampot Provincial Tourism Department’s master plan. The development of the tourism port includes the construction of a 42-storey multi-purposed twin tower which will be the tallest building in Cambodia outside Phnom Penh when completed; widening and improvements to National Road No. 3; a seaport that carries passengers to and from nearby Cambodian islands, Thailand and Vietnam

According to the 2012 census, the population of the municipality of Kampot is 49,597. Historically, there has been an important presence of Khmers of Chinese descent in Kampot. Recent years have seen an important inflow of foreigners, European, Vietnamese, and Chinese. A significant part of the population is Cham, a minority Muslim group. The Sa’och tribe, an ancient population group in the province, is on the brink of extinction, however.

Sadly the worse thing about Kampot is the private ZOO situated about 20 km from the center of the city. It house wild animals, as seen above, in very bad conditions, small roughly made cages will little thought to the needs of a living creature. I would advise not to visit this until things, hopefully, change.

The PEOPLE are Kampots attraction as is the remaining Colonial architecture.