EYEducate, established in 2015, is a widely-acclaimed organisation that teaches elementary school children in China preventative eye care techniques. Bridget Lu, founder and president of EYEducate, recently sat down with me to explain the journey she and EYEducate have taken on to reach their successes today.
ECHO: What is EYEducate’s mission?
LU: Our mission is to improve the eyesight of our next generation, and we do that through education. It’s how we got our name, actually. If you take the words ‘eye’ and ‘educate’ and combine them, you get ‘eyeducate.’
ECHO: What inspired you to create EYEducate?
LU: In early 2015, Chinese news outlets began to really focus on the nation’s eye problems. I remember seeing headlines about the myopia and hyperopia epidemic, the medical terms for near-sightedness and far-sightedness respectively, and thinking that someone had to do something about it. Too often, people attribute eye problems to genes or they simply accept it as a natural side effect of reading or studying too much, especially in China. Poor eyesight is so common but there’s so little being done about it.
ECHO: When did your ideas turn into a movement?
LU: I started reaching out to various organisations dealing with eye protection in spring of 2015. It really didn’t take long for me to get involved.
ECHO: And why is that?
LU: I actually have a rather personal connection to EYEducate’s mission. As someone who’s been affected by myopia since fourth grade and witnessed countless classmates’ vision deteriorate over the years, I felt like we place such little emphasis on a condition that affects so many people. There are measures that can be taken to alleviate the severity of myopia or prevent it entirely, and yet, so many people are unaware of that. So I thought, it’s time to do something.
ECHO: And you have done quite a lot in the past three years.
LU: We have! When EYEducate was in its early stages, I remember having a few goals in mind–– but nothing quantitative. They weren’t measurable, really. We just wanted to make people care about eye care in China. But over time, we’ve made tremendous progress. As you know, EYEducate teaches local students lessons about eye care. As of 2018, our organisation has personally taught over 2,000 students in China and raised money to provide eye protection toolkits for 1,200 students from schools in Sichuan, Hunan, and Xiamen.
ECHO: EYEducate’s influence must be quite strong to have these connections in various provinces in China. There’s no doubt that EYEducate is a successful organisation, but surely this journey hasn’t always been so smooth…
LU: The success EYEducate has today doesn’t come from luck, but poor eyesight is such a prevalent issue in China that, honestly, I think that whatever efforts to counter it would be successful to some extent–– not to say that we haven’t faced any obstacles in the past three years. I remember how our team felt after our first lesson at a local school. At the beginning, we had the students fill out a questionnaire about their knowledge and attitude towards their eyes. At the end, we had them fill out another questionnaire for them to reflect on what they had learned in the short hour we taught the class. The contrast between the answers was amazing because we could see the impact that just one hour could have on how people see eyesight–– pun intended. But what we learned was that our mission had an impact and that what we were doing was important.
ECHO: You mentioned that your team has faced obstacles in the past three years. Can you elaborate on that?
LU: Getting EYEducate off the ground was the toughest part of the journey. Our team has had to sit down countless times and think, how do we turn this idea into a national movement? Having ideas about a solution to a problem is great, but it’s pointless if you can’t turn ideas into actions.
ECHO: What exactly was stopping you from realising your goals?
LU: Contacting schools at the start was really difficult. Very few schools wanted to work with us because we weren’t a credible organisation, not to mention a group of high schoolers. Language barriers also made communication difficult. Not everyone on our team was fluent in Chinese so we had to think about what non-fluent members could do–– photography, social media, logistics… it worked out in the end, though. What we learned is that there’s a place for everyone at EYEducate.
ECHO: How did you overcome all the other roadblocks?
LU: Most of it came with time. Over time, EYEducate became more legitimate and successful and more schools were willing to work with us. Over time, our team got better at communicating in Chinese with local school representatives. I think the most important lesson for anyone starting anything is that success comes with time.
ECHO: Speaking of lessons, what else have you learned from EYEducate’s path to success?
LU: No matter how big the issue is, we all have the power to make an impact. And ideas can turn into reality. I mean, if you really think about it, EYEducate is a team of Shanghai-based high school students trying to resolve China’s global eyesight epidemic.
ECHO: And I heard that in 2017, EYEducate was presented an award by the Shanghai Municipal Government and Shanghai Media Group.
LU: Yeah! We were one of 2017’s Top 10 Charity Stories. I remember going up on stage on behalf of EYEducate to accept the award on national television. That moment has been, arguably, the most prominent highlight of my high school career. It was then when I truly felt the influence that EYEducate has built. Like, this team that started out as a small SAS club in 2015 is now a legitimate organisation making a huge impact on society. That’s amazing.
ECHO: Who do you have to thank for the success of EYEducate?
LU: Everyone. The entire team. Our long term collaborators. Honestly, I can’t express my gratitude enough. EYEducate is EYEducate all because of them.
ECHO: Final question. What’s your vision–– pun intended–– for the future of EYEducate?
LU: I want EYEducate to expand globally. In the past three years, we’ve gone from teaching locally to teaching about eye care nationally, but my plans don’t stop there. Poor eyesight is a condition that affects millions of people worldwide, and I think that it’s such a shame that there isn’t greater focus on such a common condition. It sounds unbelievably ambitious and perhaps just slightly unrealistic, but I want to see the global rates of myopia and hyperopia drop. For people who, like me, have suffered from poor eyesight for a long time, it might be too late to reverse its affects, but it’s not too late for our future generation.
To learn more about EYEducate, head to their website http://www.eyeducate.org, or check them out during their Monday lunch meetings at the Makerspace in the CID!
Annie Xie
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| (Photo courtesy of Bridget Lu) |
ECHO: What is EYEducate’s mission?
LU: Our mission is to improve the eyesight of our next generation, and we do that through education. It’s how we got our name, actually. If you take the words ‘eye’ and ‘educate’ and combine them, you get ‘eyeducate.’
ECHO: What inspired you to create EYEducate?
LU: In early 2015, Chinese news outlets began to really focus on the nation’s eye problems. I remember seeing headlines about the myopia and hyperopia epidemic, the medical terms for near-sightedness and far-sightedness respectively, and thinking that someone had to do something about it. Too often, people attribute eye problems to genes or they simply accept it as a natural side effect of reading or studying too much, especially in China. Poor eyesight is so common but there’s so little being done about it.
ECHO: When did your ideas turn into a movement?
LU: I started reaching out to various organisations dealing with eye protection in spring of 2015. It really didn’t take long for me to get involved.
ECHO: And why is that?
LU: I actually have a rather personal connection to EYEducate’s mission. As someone who’s been affected by myopia since fourth grade and witnessed countless classmates’ vision deteriorate over the years, I felt like we place such little emphasis on a condition that affects so many people. There are measures that can be taken to alleviate the severity of myopia or prevent it entirely, and yet, so many people are unaware of that. So I thought, it’s time to do something.
ECHO: And you have done quite a lot in the past three years.
LU: We have! When EYEducate was in its early stages, I remember having a few goals in mind–– but nothing quantitative. They weren’t measurable, really. We just wanted to make people care about eye care in China. But over time, we’ve made tremendous progress. As you know, EYEducate teaches local students lessons about eye care. As of 2018, our organisation has personally taught over 2,000 students in China and raised money to provide eye protection toolkits for 1,200 students from schools in Sichuan, Hunan, and Xiamen.
 |
| (Photo courtesy of Bridget Lu) |
ECHO: EYEducate’s influence must be quite strong to have these connections in various provinces in China. There’s no doubt that EYEducate is a successful organisation, but surely this journey hasn’t always been so smooth…
LU: The success EYEducate has today doesn’t come from luck, but poor eyesight is such a prevalent issue in China that, honestly, I think that whatever efforts to counter it would be successful to some extent–– not to say that we haven’t faced any obstacles in the past three years. I remember how our team felt after our first lesson at a local school. At the beginning, we had the students fill out a questionnaire about their knowledge and attitude towards their eyes. At the end, we had them fill out another questionnaire for them to reflect on what they had learned in the short hour we taught the class. The contrast between the answers was amazing because we could see the impact that just one hour could have on how people see eyesight–– pun intended. But what we learned was that our mission had an impact and that what we were doing was important.
ECHO: You mentioned that your team has faced obstacles in the past three years. Can you elaborate on that?
LU: Getting EYEducate off the ground was the toughest part of the journey. Our team has had to sit down countless times and think, how do we turn this idea into a national movement? Having ideas about a solution to a problem is great, but it’s pointless if you can’t turn ideas into actions.
ECHO: What exactly was stopping you from realising your goals?
LU: Contacting schools at the start was really difficult. Very few schools wanted to work with us because we weren’t a credible organisation, not to mention a group of high schoolers. Language barriers also made communication difficult. Not everyone on our team was fluent in Chinese so we had to think about what non-fluent members could do–– photography, social media, logistics… it worked out in the end, though. What we learned is that there’s a place for everyone at EYEducate.
ECHO: How did you overcome all the other roadblocks?
LU: Most of it came with time. Over time, EYEducate became more legitimate and successful and more schools were willing to work with us. Over time, our team got better at communicating in Chinese with local school representatives. I think the most important lesson for anyone starting anything is that success comes with time.
ECHO: Speaking of lessons, what else have you learned from EYEducate’s path to success?
LU: No matter how big the issue is, we all have the power to make an impact. And ideas can turn into reality. I mean, if you really think about it, EYEducate is a team of Shanghai-based high school students trying to resolve China’s global eyesight epidemic.
 |
| (Photo courtesy of Bridget Lu) |
ECHO: And I heard that in 2017, EYEducate was presented an award by the Shanghai Municipal Government and Shanghai Media Group.
LU: Yeah! We were one of 2017’s Top 10 Charity Stories. I remember going up on stage on behalf of EYEducate to accept the award on national television. That moment has been, arguably, the most prominent highlight of my high school career. It was then when I truly felt the influence that EYEducate has built. Like, this team that started out as a small SAS club in 2015 is now a legitimate organisation making a huge impact on society. That’s amazing.
ECHO: Who do you have to thank for the success of EYEducate?
LU: Everyone. The entire team. Our long term collaborators. Honestly, I can’t express my gratitude enough. EYEducate is EYEducate all because of them.
ECHO: Final question. What’s your vision–– pun intended–– for the future of EYEducate?
LU: I want EYEducate to expand globally. In the past three years, we’ve gone from teaching locally to teaching about eye care nationally, but my plans don’t stop there. Poor eyesight is a condition that affects millions of people worldwide, and I think that it’s such a shame that there isn’t greater focus on such a common condition. It sounds unbelievably ambitious and perhaps just slightly unrealistic, but I want to see the global rates of myopia and hyperopia drop. For people who, like me, have suffered from poor eyesight for a long time, it might be too late to reverse its affects, but it’s not too late for our future generation.
To learn more about EYEducate, head to their website http://www.eyeducate.org, or check them out during their Monday lunch meetings at the Makerspace in the CID!
Annie Xie
