Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za
25 July 2024 | 11:53 a.m. SAST
3-minute read

Image: The Ruya Project/ Instagram (@theruyaproject)

Zaahira Essay Jogee was recently decorated as a News24 Young Mandela in the humanitarian category for her commitment to providing eye care services to the elderly and children in orphanages.

Her inspiring story is one of determination and hard work to achieve her vision, despite numerous challenges.

Zaahira traces her interest in eye health care to her childhood when her parents placed emphasis on family visits to the optometrist after having struggled with their own vision at a young age. When she was deliberating on a career path, she job-shadowed the local optometrist, who played a huge role in inspiring and motivating her to pursue optometry.

In 2016, Zaahira started the Ruya project to help orphaned children and elderly individuals after having noticed a lack of eye care awareness and facilities, especially in rural areas at the beginning of her working career.

She recounts feeling a strong sense of responsibility to give back to vulnerable people in the community.

“As a Muslim optometrist, I feel it’s our responsibility to go above and beyond your practice, working and earning, by just providing the services back to the community [and] making them aware what they should be doing… And I felt that it was my responsibility to actually do the next step in starting something that I am now taking these services out to them,” Zaahirah said on air at Radio Islam International earlier this morning.

The project involves visiting orphanages and elderly individuals to perform eye tests and provide other eye care services. During the initial stages of the project, her family would assist her, but over time, Zaahira’s vision of providing specialised eye care to more children has been made possible with support from other optometrists and eye health professionals.

Zaahira says that her family and network of people with whom she works on the project keep her motivated and have helped increase the number of children who benefit from the programme from 100 to 1000 per year.  Through various partnerships and collaborations, the project has expanded to service Durban in KwaZulu Natal.

Zaahira emphasises the importance of eye healthcare in detecting and correcting vision errors in children and adults alike and exemplifies this by exploring the correlation between vision and academic performance, loss of independence in the elderly, loss of income and the link between vision and poverty.

“For a child who is growing up in poverty, they can’t break this cycle because they can’t pursue further studies. Or even learning a skill, acquiring a skill, and going on to earning a living for themselves as well. Vision and eye care is significantly important. And… there is a direct link with vision and poverty. And the Ruya Project would like to break that link or at least help as much as we can to bring that aspect under control, knowing our situation in South Africa specifically,” Zaahira said.

Her advice to other young people who understand the need for social responsibility and would like to start humanitarian initiatives is to recognise that every small effort will contribute to achieving the goal. Zaahira advises having a strong intention and trusting in Allah when implementing philanthropic plans.

Her plans for the future of the Ruya project include providing the same quality of services available at optometry practices to vulnerable individuals, to expand services to assist more individuals and periodically monitor patients, and to re-establish optometry as a form of primary health care.

Listen to the full interview on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Habib Bobat.