People line up patiently, waiting to receive their new spectacles.
In the two and a half months since the devastating earthquake struck Gujarat in North West India, the Red Cross relief operation has focused on distributing blankets, tents and tarpaulins to address the shelter needs of thousands of people who have lost their homes. However, on Sunday 8 April, a distribution with a difference took place when 400 inhabitants in the village of Bharpar received brand new eyeglasses. Situated 13 kilometres from Bhuj with a population of 5000, Bharpar was hit hard by the quake. Ninety percent of houses in the village were totally destroyed and in the immediate weeks following the disaster the Federation together with volunteers from the Indian Red Cross provided plastic sheeting for shelter as well as blankets, kitchen sets and water containers to more than 700 families from the village. But then the population of Bharpar received an unexpected visit from Alpesh Patel, a volunteer from the Indian Red Cross who runs his own optician business in Ahmedabad about 400 km away.