Established in 1995, the wife and husband tandem of TWECS has been conducting eye care projects annually and have provided free eye care and eye glasses to over 55,000 of the worlds poor. “We thank each of you who made an incredible difference in the lives of adults, children, and the elderly by giving them the gift of sight,” said Roma-March, who hails from the province of Samar in central Philippines.
This year TWECS will be heading to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to conduct an eye care mission for 2 weeks. Next year, TWECS will be visiting Olongapo City for the second time around to give free eye care to the residents there with special focus on the Aeta people in the mountain resettlement area. The project is hosted by Mayor Bong Gordon and Andronica Roma.
Philippine News Today and Philippine Showbiz Today under the leadership of publisher Rey Fortaleza would be donating monetary support as well as ready to lend a hand and volunteer. According to Dr. Roma March, they’re eyeing to raise a total of $60,000 to fund the education and training of 2 more Tanzanian students under the Optometric program at the University of Moshi in Tanzania and to build a permanent eye clinic in Kwamti pura in the island of Zanzibar. According to Dr. Roma-March, their 5 year goal is to establish an economically sustainable eye centre wholely supported by the community and an outreach program able to provide TWECS style eye camps in all areas of the island. They have the cooperation of the Government of Zanzibar, the cooperation of the Ministry of Health, and the cooperation of the elders of the community in Kwamtipura.
The Fund raiser for the evening is the Silent Auction wherein over 130 auction items were donated from an automatic toothbrush, Fendi , Channel sunglasses, an aged-whisky, lots of hotel getaways, golf packages, to a one of a kind framed photo of the classic Thrilla in Manila fight of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Some popular items included a signed book by Obama “The Audacity of Hope” and a spot in the Pro-Am golf in the Canadian Open and Cufflinks from President Bill Clinton. Gold Sponsors donated $25,000 in sponsorship and included 20/20 marketing, Cascade Optical, CooperVision, Esilor and Iris.
The Eye Ball premiered a documentary produced by Gemini Award Winner Global National TV news and documentary producer Jason Keel. Jason Keel’s documentary tracks the dramatic twists and turns as the 2007 Third World Eye Care Society’s (TWECS) mission to Vietnam is nearly derailed again and again.
Jason gained unprecedented access to tense backroom negotiations as the team literally fought to the last minute to keep red tape and corrupt customs officials from completely sabotaging the mission. Finally freed from customs, the team struck out to remote areas of Vietnam trying to make up for lost time only to be broadsided by everything from riots to local officials trying to hijack the team for their own purposes.
In the end, it was one of the most successful TWECS missions ever with record numbers of poor people fitted with glasses each day. But it could easily have failed so many times in so many ways -- and candid and emotional footage shows why team leaders Marina Roma-March and Derrick March call this their most difficult mission ever and ultimately a true triumph over adversity.
This documentary featured the trials, tribulations and triumph of the Vietnam eye care project in November 2007. The guests were moved by the documentary and gave Jason Keel a long standing ovation.
“Thank you for your kindness to others less fortunate than yourselves. Thank you for allowing me personally to experience so many wonderful EyeBall moments with you,” she adds.
