Vision Aid is a charity which provides eye care to deprived communities in Africa. The charity helps to provide eye care through outreach projects, hospital training and vision centres. VAO collect used spectacles in the UK, recycles them and uses the proceeds to help fund the charities work. VAO works by providing outreach projects, setting up vision centres or teaching projects. Outreach projects send British optometrists to remote villages to set up temporary eye testing clinics to test as many local people and dispense glasses to those who need them. Vision centres aim to create sustainable aid by teaching local people to test eyes and setting up dispensing labs. These vision centres provide ongoing vision care for the local population, staffed by the local people.
Amy has travelled to Ethiopia in 2009 on an outreach project, 6 opticians tested over 3000 people in 2weeks.
Puna in India was Amy's second project in 2010 which was another outreach project.
Her third project to Zambia was a teaching project to train 12 local opticians within Kasama hospital.
To raise money for Vision Aid Overseas Amy has run the 2009 and 2010 Great North Run's and the 2011 London Marathon.