Huge Thanks from A Recipient

During the course of the day, we see so many patients. And, typically, once we give them their glasses, we rarely hear from them again. Today, our team received a very special gift. A patient from yesterday, 23-year-old Marlene came back to hand-deliver a letter of thanks:

To the team from OneSight –

Hi. I just want to say thank you for the wonderful and friendly service you have given to the Kokstad community. From my side, I want to say a big thank you. It has been a couple of years that I’ve been without glasses and due to that, I could not get a job. As such, I did not have the money to buy a pair of glasses as they are very expensive. Today, I went for an interview and I’m starting work tomorrow. I’m on a trial basis for two weeks. Thank you guys for making our lives easier. I also want to thank you on behalf of my sister Judy and my brother’s daughter Angeliqua. We have all had an ‘eye gene’ problem and it’s hard for us to get glasses which are 100% perfect. May God richly bless each and every one of you. A special thank you to Oprah for making everything possible. May God bless you. - Marlene

Marlene is pictured below with her fiancé whom she is marrying in November. The best part of this story is that as we were snapping her pic, Dr. Obker strolled by and recognized Marlene as the aunt of Angeliqua (mentioned above) who had left Clinic yesterday without her glasses! She required an -16 which we did not have in stock. We provided temporary chabellas and are “adopting” her which means we’ll make a pair at home and ship them back.


Gwen Silverberg helped this 70-year old woman see clearly for the first time in many years. Her script was -22 and Gwen was able to find this beautiful pair of black and white cat eyes, which were a nearly perfect match. The moment she could see was very bitter sweet – she was crying tears of joy for being able to see clearly for the first time in many years, but also crying tears of sadness for all those years lost.

4-year-old Sanelisiwe suffers from a cataract in one eye (rare for someone her age), which made it very tough to find the perfect pair for her. After trying three pairs, Bekki Fagan was able to dispense this perfect pair. Her mom also received a new pair of chabellas making mom and daughter able to see each other clearly for the first time in many years.

Jamie Hall first saw this four year old in Autorefracting and couldn’t believe the read she was getting – a -11/-8.5. She was so curious if this was correct that she followed her through to the doctor stations. Dr. Frank Valentino did her exam. Because we brought some extra equipment on this Clinic, including a Phoropter, he was able to get a perfect script. It turned out Jamie’s read was really close and she was so thrilled to dispense a perfect match to this little one. To make things better, the little girl’s mom and grandmother also received glasses – both were at a -9.

Elsa received her first pair of eyeglasses, +3.00 readers. She is excited about being able to read again, especially her bible. Also, she has not seen her daughters’ faces clearly in several years and is happy for that gift.

Abongile, 8, in first grade was born with sublexated lenses which (in laymans’s terms, means her lenses can’t focus clearly). As a result of her poor vision, she is one year behind in school. Doctor Alan Levy gave her +7 glasses, which helped her see more clearly to do better in school!

Young 13-year-old Qiqipho had never worn glasses before coming through our Clinic. When she saw the docs, they were amazed because this teenager needed a +10 in both eyes! This means she was not able to see near to even read a book in front of her! Luckily, Tom Precht and Mike Smith were in IMS today and were able to find a perfect match! As soon as she saw her pic in these hot new frames, a huge smile broke out across her face. Another happy customer!!