Shabbir Kapasi, Congratulations!

[Jo]

Shabbir,

Congratulations on being added to The National Academy of Opticianry's (http://www.nao.org/home.htm) Hall of Fame! You even paid for cataract surgeries out of your own pocket? You must be a generous and caring person.Each year the Academy Awards and Hall of Fame Selection Committees select a few very special individuals to honor at the Academy’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies and Annual Awards Program. This year two individuals were honored for their contributions to the eyecare field: Shabbir K. Kapasi, FNAO and Harold L. Price, FNAO.

Shabbir K. Kapasi, FNAO, has been actively rendering humanitarian services for the last
20 years, helping poor and needy people of Tanzania by conducting free eye camps, providing free eye examinations and spectacles, training and educating rural adults and children on the prevention of blinding eye disease, and paying for cataract surgeries from his own pocket.
- Two Added to the National Academy Hall of Fame (http://www.nao.org/hallof~1.htm)James S. Elkin (left) presents the Hall of Fame pyramid to Shabbir K. Kapasi, FNAO(right).
http://www.nao.org/icons/Elkin&~1.jpg

[Jackie L]

Congratulations Shabbir. The spotlight is on you!

[Jayant]

Hello Mr. Kapasi,
Congratulations for ur great efforts.when i used to live in india i mean before 6 months i did lots of eye camps with lions club & even with lots of local schools in india u might be knowing there is one Mr.Hakim Kapasi he is good friends of mine,he work very hard for the poor people i think he is holding very good post for lions club.once again heartly congratulations for ur great achievements. i hope u remember me .

jayant

[Laurie]

We are indeed in good company!

Congratulations on this award and thanks for all of your contributions to optiboard and opticianry!

Laurie : )

[Optom]

Dear Jo,Lion Jackie L,Laurie & Jayant,

I am back home and was pleased to see kind messages waiting for me on OptiBoard.Thank you very much all for your congratulatory messages.

The honor of induction was great one for me,the thought of me being considered for this distiction arouses mixed emotions of humility and profound gratitude.Jo,we have to consider and look after less fortunate people of our communities.In Tanzania a pair of eyeglasses cost one's one month wage.Eyeglasses that are trash in your part of the world are treasure in my part of the world.There is big back log for cataract surgeries etc.Eye related NGO'S like Lions Clubs,CBM are doing great work helping poor & needy people.

Jayant,I remember you well.I'll be in Toronto end of next month.Anyway, email me at your convenience if you want to contact me in Canada.There are many Kapasi's surname in this world:D This is my fourth generation in Africa,my roots I believe being from Gujrat part of India.One day I want to visit India.

Thank you all again.

Best Personal regards,

Shabbir Kapasi

[Jo]

Shabbir,

The parents of one our patients came in to order glasses for their son; he had broken his while abroad. Their son is in Africa teaching grade school children. We were going to give the parents a hard eyeglass case and a bottle of lens cleaner to send to him with the glasses and they told us not to bother. They were trying to ship as little weight as possible. It turns out that they sent a small box of books to their son so he could use them in his classroom and it cost a small fortune to send such a small amount of books.

I now understand why transporting donated frames to areas that need them is such an expensive venture. You are truly a very thoughtful person. I hope folks that read your post about "Old glasses needed" think about you during this season of holidays.http://www.optiboard.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3263

[Steve Machol]

Hi Shabbir!

I posted my congratulations to you in another thread but let me echo it here. Great job!