A fifth of 500 residents of the small and poor coastal village near Hue, Binh An 1, have signed up to donate their eyes after death, Nguyen Thanh Kieu, the village chief since 2004, says.
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| Chief of Binh An 1 Village, Nguyen Thanh Kieu is reading the list of people in his locality agreeing to donate their corneas after death |
This tiny place was in fact instrumental in starting off a movement to donate corneas in the local commune, Loc Vinh, a year ago, he says.
When the provincial Red Cross began a campaign funded by American organization Orbis appealing for cornea donations for transplants, he was the first to sig up.
Other residents soon joined in.
Kieu admits he was initially scared since he did not understand the process of donation. He thought that after his death his eyes would be scooped out and placed into someone else’s eye sockets.
Vietnamese believe a person’s body should not be mutilated in any manner.
But after doctors explained that they would remove only the thin inner layer of the eyes rather than the entire eyeball, he was assured and registered immediately.
Since death means returning to the dust, everyone should give whatever they could, he says.
But in this poor rural place, not everyone was as enlightened as him. Most were freaked out when first told about the cornea donation, picturing themselves as being blind and unable to walk to heaven after death.
So the Loc Vinh Commune people’s committee organized several meetings and formed a mobilization board that went to every house and knocked on the door to encourage people to sign up.
Materials were brought from the National Eye Hospital to explain and convince them.
The efforts paid off spectacularly: 183 people in the commune, including 81 from Binh An 1 alone, signed up at the end of 2010.
Many elderly people like Tran Dien, 70, Hoang Khuyen, 80, Hoang Loc, 84, not only registered themselves but also encouraged their children and grandchildren to join.
Ironically some of the senior citizens feared interference from their children and grandchildren who were possibly afraid that the donation would harm their beloved parents and grandparents.
The Hoang Loc’s therefore stipulated in their will that any of their descendants attempting to obstruct the donation after their death would lose their inheritance.
Mr Loc says he heard there are around 3,000 blind people who need cornea transplants while supply was always short. Helping bring light to other people’s lives is a rewarding thing to do, he says.
Van Dinh Phuc, chairman of the Loc Vinh Red Cross, says the cornea donation movement in the local community, especially in Binh An 1 village, has got a highly positive response in the last couple of years. People have truly taken it to heart and are not signing up just to make a show, he says admiringly.
If anyone is unsure about signing up, the Red Cross always lets them take their time since it understands right deeds must come from willing minds, he explains.
Cornea donator Hoang Loc
