Skolastika's story

Skolastika lives in an isolated village on the east coast of Makira Island, a remote island in the Solomon Islands.  She lives a simple life.  Her parents are subsistence farmers and Skolastika helps out when she can.

When a provincial eye nurse screened Skolastika, her vision had been deteriorating for some time.  She had a cataract that could eventually rob her of her sight.  She didn’t understand that this cataract was treatable and, even if she did, there were no local eye services to treat her. 

Makira residents must rely on visiting eye teams that come to the island perhaps once every two years.  Many people in Skolastika’s village were suffering from eye problems, with many blind from cataracts, accepting this as part of life. 

Skolastika was lucky.  A provincial eye nurse identified her cataract, whilst screening in preparation for a Fred Hollows Foundation NZ outreach to the island’s only hospital, three hours away at Kirakira.  A few months later Skolastika climbed aboard the little motorboat.  Skolastika’s mother wanted to go with her young daughter, but there was no room on the boat.  There were more people who required help than the boat could hold.

Once she reached the eye camp, Skolastika waited nervously.  She had never left her village before and felt lonely and afraid without her family.  Dr Nola Pikacha, a Hollows NZ-trained eye doctor, took Skolastika’s hand and, in local pidgin, told her not be scared and reassured her about what would happen during surgery. 

Dr John Szetu, an experienced Solomon Island eye surgeon and Director of the Foundation’s regional training centre, the Pacific Eye Institute, performed Skolastika’s surgery, watched by Dr Pikacha.  In just 20 minutes, Skolastika’s cataract was removed and replaced with a clear plastic intra-ocular lens, restoring her sight.  

The next morning Dr Nola removed Skolastika’s bandage and checked her eye. It was healing well.  “You’ve been very brave,” she told Skolastika.  “You’ll be back playing basketball with your friends in no time.”

Skolastika waited impatiently for several days for the boat to take her back to her village.  She couldn’t wait to return home and tell her family and friends about her experience, and about the kind eye team that had restored her vision. 

During the two week outreach to the Solomon Islands, the team treated over 100 patients and restored sight to over 40.  

Outreach clinics are crucial in the Solomon Islands, where over 80% of the population live in far flung rural areas.  They also provide crucial practical experience for trainee eye surgeons studying at The Foundation’s Pacific eye care training centre, The Pacific Eye Institute.  When she returned to her native Solomon Islands at the end of 2008, Dr Pikacha became the country’s third eye doctor for a population of 500,000 people.

These outreaches are funded by donations we receive from the New Zealand public. 

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