A lot of you will be reading this and those of you who know me quite well will also know that from early days when I was in school, I already knew that I wanted to become a doctor. I eventually got into medical school in the UK.

As I progressed during my early years at medical school, I began to gain an interest in the field ophthalmology. i have spent a lot of time outside my placement hours in the eye clinics here at the hospital affiliated with my university. I realised that I could use this experience and my passion to make a difference in the country I grew up in.

Visual impairment is a significant health problem in the African Region. The major eye conditions include cataracts, uncorrected refractive errors, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, corneal opacities, diabetic retinopathy, trachoma and onchocerciasis.

With today’s knowledge and technology, up to 80% of blindness is preventable and treatable. Cost-effective interventions are available for the major causes of avoidable blindness. However, millions of people in the Region remain at risk of visual loss due to the lack of eye-care services.

Approximately 26.3 million people in the African Region have a form of visual impairment. Of these, 20.4 million have low vision and 5.9 million are estimated to be blind. It is estimated that 15.3% of the world's blind population reside in Africa.

So, I decided to make this crowdfunding page to raise money and awareness about the different potentially preventable eye diseases in Kenya. I have partnered up with local hospitals in rural Kenya. My university has given me an opportunity to undertake an 'observership' programme during my summer holidays around August. Obviously an observership is only as good as it sounds. This means I will shadow the doctors to see what they do and how they do it. For this I do not need to raise any money. I don't want this just to be an observership, I want to make a real difference to the people out there.

The only reason that these people do not have treatment is due to the cost and accessibility. My mission going forward is to ensure that affordable and good quality eye care is provided to all people regardless of their background.

During this time, I have planned an eye camp which will be held in a village in Mombasa. The money raised will help treat patients who already suffer from eye disease. Yes, 1500 pounds may not sound like a lot for cataract surgeries but in Kenya, this money can make massive difference.

If you trust me with my passion, please help me meet this target. I have been working on this project for a long time and with your support, this will become possible.