One To Watch The Eye's The Limit For Megan

The Kiwi Optometrist’s Trip to Fiji Was Visionary.

- Fleur Guthrie

When Christchurch optometrist Megan Glover told her children that Mummy was going to work in Fiji for 10 days, she had a bit of explaining to do.

No, she told them, her days wouldn’t be filled with swimming at tropical, white sand beaches and nor would she be returning with colourful beads in her hair.

“Their idea of Fiji is when their classmates go over on holiday for the sunshine and water sports, and stay in an island resort there. So I showed them pictures of the small villages where I’d be working and had to talk to Alice (7) and Patrick (5) about why my trip was a bit different,” smiles Megan.

And ‘different’ is downplaying it. The 35-year-old was recently selected by Specsavers to work alongside the Fred Hollows Foundation NZ, in what she calls an “opportunity of a lifetime”, visiting the largest optometristtraining facility in the Pacific and teaching nurses to provide vital eyecare to local communities in need.

“Driving from the airport to central Suva, I knew this outreach was going to show me a contrasting side of life,” tells Megan, who hadn’t been back to Fiji since holidaying with her parents as a child.

“On one of my first days there, I was surprised to find it was literally a little tent that we’d be doing eye tests in.”