Reading glasses for Palah village
This remote village is located on Mubur island in Kepulauan Anambas, a small archipelago of Indonesia, located in the South China Sea between the Malaysian mainland to the west and the island of Borneo to the east.
Its isolated position means the island has remained almost untouched. Because the land rises sharply from the seabed, the houses are built on stilts over shallow reefs.
Our good friend Sam Fadil tests villagers for reading glasses. Sam, who is Indonesian, has his own small boat and wants to take the Sight by Sail program to many smaller islands Vega cannot reach.
It’s hard to repair outboard motors when you cannot see what you are doing. A simple pair of reading glasses just changed this man’s life.
Threading a needle is one of the tests we use to confirm the right strength of glasses.
The 250 inhabitants in Palah village live simple lives, and the main income source is small scale fishing, coconut, and clove tree plantations.
No stranger to the sea, Sam once single handed a small sailboat from New York to Indonesia.
That smile says it all.
