Kunming's Ophthalmology Hospital for Children conducts a medical eye examination on the students at Shahongkou
Shahongkou, a poverty stricken mountain village of the rural and backward miao tribe along the coast of the honghe (red river). The main crops there are maize and pumpkin. However, some families are unable to provide food and clothing for themselves. Their drinking water depends on collecting the rain water. There are no public roads in the villages, and there are no village doctors, so there is no help if anyone is sick. The educational work in the village has been going on for over 10 years, but not a single student has ever seen an eye test chart or received a check-up. They are satisfied as long as they are able to see the words on the blackboard.
On 8 September, a group of four female doctors from the Kunming Ophthalmology Hospital for Children, led by the head Dr Li Lihong, went to give a free screening for the 180 primary students who had never been examined before to test their eyesight. In the morning it was raining continuously. The school teacher was very concerned and telephoned: ""In this weather it is difficult even to enter on a bullock cart. Besides, the dirt road has been rained on; the slopes are very slippery and extremely dangerous. What shall we do?"" After hearing this, Dr Li firmly said: ""We will go no matter how heavy the rain is, we will decide later if we are really unable to enter."" At this, everybody was prepared that there would be no time for lunch. Everyone set off with a bottle of water and bread.
Among the four doctors the youngest have just graduated. They had grown up in the city, and do not even know where the groundnuts grow or how potatoes are grown. For them, this voluntary examination was really a difficult trial and training. It was raining non-stop, the mountain trail was getting narrower as we went, the slope was getting steeper as we climbed, and the temperature had already fallen by more than 10 degrees. The vehicle roads and the mountain trails that went to the village were becoming difficult to distinguish, and we just had to depend on the driver's experience to identify the right way. The car was slowly being jolted around on the muddy road, and the journey of 6 kilometres took almost one hour. Upon reaching the school, the teacher and students had already finished classes. Dr Li got out of the car and told everybody: ""There are over 180 students, and the timing is too tight. Everybody must make full use of the time and start work as soon as possible, we have to finish everything before evening and the heavy rain comes."" With this, everyone did not bother to eat lunch, and stepped to and fro across the muddy road to move the examination equipment. Although the doctors were wearing large white gowns, it was not enough to withstand the cold mountain wind. Without much effort, a classroom was set up to become an examination room. The doctors got the students already there grouped together and lined up, and started the examination work in an orderly way. As this area was 100% of the miao tribe, many students could not even understand Mandarin, so there were definite difficulties in the working process.
For every student, the doctors had to explain everything to them patiently and thoroughly. For some students, a test had to be explained four or five times until it was finally understood. Like this, without complaint about the trouble and without regard for their fatigue or hunger, these doctors worked continuously until the very last student's examination was completed. While working they did not have a drink of water or a minute's rest. It was only during the journey back that everybody felt extremely hungry, because everyone had not eaten lunch yet. This expedition discovered a case of children's cataracts, which is an extremely rare disease. If this optical disease is not operated on, it will result in the loss of eyesight. The hospital then provided the operation for this student free of charge.