UVU student to help others with vision

For the past six months, Cody Forsyth has been gathering eyeglasses to help people near the city of Chennai, India, see better.

The Utah Valley University junior is studying biology and hopes to become an optometrist. His two-week volunteer endeavor, which includes 24 hours of international travel, is something he hopes will give him a better idea of how eye doctors can help in the world. At first, he said he was just looking for humanitarian projects to put on his resume, but as he got more involved with Yale University-based Unite For Sight program, he realized the experience was going to mean much more to him and to his career.

"I'm really interested in helping where I can," Forsyth, 30, said. "With such a large-scale opportunity, I hope to gain something for myself as well."

A lot of his endeavor will include educational outreach, as he said many of the rural residents have cultural misconceptions about their eyes.

"A lot of them put mascara around the inside of their eyes to keep them clear from various spirits coming into their bodies," he said, adding that the humanitarian group tries to help the people understand how to best take care of themselves.

In addition to airfare and more than 300 pairs of glasses, Forsyth had to come up with $1,500 to participate with the group in Chennai. He'll partner with other volunteers from America at a hotel there and basically spend his waking hours "doing the work that needs to be done," he said.

The work includes free eye screenings, eye clinics, and pre- and post-operative surgery measures for rural villages surrounding the city. The goal is to eliminate preventable blindness. Many of the adults and children, Forsyth said, are in need of basic reading glasses.

The nonprofit organization, which was founded by a Yale sophomore in 2000 and began working in countries in Africa and Asia in 2004, has so far served 800,000 patients, sponsored 21,190 surgeries and trained more than 5,700 volunteers like Forsyth.

To meet a Unite for Sight requirement for donated pairs of glasses, Forsyth's sister held a drive at her school and his mother at church. After purchasing some at a low price, he ended up taking more than 400 pairs with him to Chennai. The Pleasant Grove Lions Club also helped by donating a bunch the facility had been collecting over the past year.

Forsyth doesn't know what is in store for him, but he knows he'll be expected to work hard. The sacrifice of preparation and time restraints to finish multiple online courses to be ready for the excursion, along with leaving a wife who is six months pregnant, is one he's believes will be worthwhile. As he packed up to leave for his first venture outside North America, he said he could only keep his eye on the prize of realizing a dream to become an eye doctor.

"Growing up in eastern Utah, my father was a coal miner and I saw the things I didn't want to do," Forsyth said. "Later on I learned that I enjoy helping people, so I'm running with it."

E-MAIL: wleonard@desnews.com