On 9 October 2014, World Sight Day, non-profit organisation Orbis Africa launched Africa’s first documentary film on eye health as its latest innovative tool to reduce preventable and treatable blindness and visual impairment on the continent.
Photo: Minenhle Mkhungo, one of the young stars in the film
The short documentary film was screened at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in Durban as part of a critical eye health training programme. Dr Sbongile Zungu, KwaZulu-Natal Health’s Head of Department, attended the film screening and World Sight Day festivities where she met some of the patients who are undergoing treatment at the Orbis Africa funded Paediatric Eye Care Centre.
A recent research study by acclaimed South African anthropologist, Dr Susan Levine, was the catalyst for Orbis Africa’s decision to harness the power of film to drive its prevention and treatment models for avoidable childhood blindness on the African continent. Levine’s study, the first of its kind in Africa, revealed a series of barriers and obstacles that are preventing children from accessing vital medical intervention which could prevent childhood blindness.
“Overcoming these barriers required innovative communication methods, hence Orbis Africa’s decision to harness the power of film,” explains Lene Øverland, Orbis Africa CEO. “Facilitated Film Screenings have proven to be an effective communications tool for achieving social change.”
which is particularly apt as she is now able
to see after enduring 3 years of blindness
Orbis Africa partnered with STEPS (Social Transformation and Empowerment Projects), who pioneered the facilitated film screening methodology. STEPS, a special collaboration between filmmakers from Southern Africa and European broadcasters, produced the documentary to initiate social change and pioneer awareness of eye disease.
The film Ngiyakubona (I See You) was piloted for the KwaZulu-Natal province and reflects on the experiences of two children, Innocent and Minenhle, who suffered from congenital bilateral cataracts. The film, which is produced in Zulu with English subtitles, provides personal accounts from family members on how they dealt with their child’s eye condition, how it impacted on the family and how they overcame multiple obstacles so that the children could undergo sight saving surgery. The film encourages the viewer to seek treatment immediately if they notice any problem with their child’s vision.
Orbis Africa has been working in KwaZulu-Natal in partnership with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health since 2010, to strengthen child eye health services through investing in human resources, providing equipment and consumables and raising public awareness about the importance of child eye health.
“The Orbis Africa STEPS film is going to be a powerful tool to promote debate and discussion. A tool to bring about social change. This film will take the awareness of eye disease to the people of KwaZulu-Natal,” said Dr Zungu, Head of Department: KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health.