Living in overcast Shanghai, it’s easy to forget that sunnier climes exist out in China’s far west. But indeed they do. The Tibetan Plateau, popularly dubbed the ‘roof of the world’ is the one of the highest elevations on the earth’s surface and despite its remote location, nomadic communities still call its challenging landscapes home. While the plateau affords picturesque scenery in pristine mountainside environments, marginal communities in such as those in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai province face an unforeseen struggle that city- dwellers living in the shadows of Shanghai’s mega-structures would never imagine.
Charitable organisations have hammered home in recent years of the dramatic increase in eye-related conditions affecting the communities inhabiting areas of high elevation. The culprit? UV light. The extreme elevation, dry climate and frequency of ‘snow-blindness’ mean that there is little protection from dangerous UV light rays. By the age of 30, a large number of residents suffer from severely reduced vision and the early-onset of cataracts.
In response to the overwhelming increase in eye conditions on the Tibetan Plateau, Wei Huang and Xin Tao established the ‘Eyes of the Plateau’ project in 2010, offering the simplest of aid to those in need of it the most. The concept was simple; collect as many second-hand sunglasses as possible in order to redistribute them in Golog Prefecture among the communities of suffering from eye-related trauma. After testing, cleaning and repackaging, pre-loved sunnies are shipped to Golog and distributed to those at the highest risk of eye conditions and snow-blindness.
Delivery services do not currently serve much of eastern Qinghai, presenting a tricky obstacle for the organisers of Eyes of the Plateau. Taking it upon themselves to find a solution, each year a team of up to 20 volunteers share the cost of a bus and driver to reach remote places to find new owners for re-purposed sunnies. The remedy is simple, but the work is hard; a measurable decrease in the rate of cataract formation won’t be understood for another forty years, meaning there’s a lot more work to be done to keep on track. The ‘curse of the land’ is slowly beginning to lose its grip on marginal communities in eastern Qinghai with one simple idea and a lot of elbow grease.
To donate sunglasses, drop by any LensCrafters branch in Shanghai or contact Mei Huang (189 1799 2983; awayehuang@me.com).
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