In an obscure church, in the middle of a busy suburb of Amman, Jordan, an IDEAS optometrist provides eye exams to struggling refugee populations.

The church entrance is on a side street, and the casual visitor won’t know it’s there. Walking through the door into the patio area, there is no doubt of this church’s mission.

“Come and find rest” is written in massive letters along the wall.

This church is finding holistic ways to meet the needs of refugees in the area. Those who walk through the doors have fled the conflicts in the region, including Sudan, Syria, and Iraq.

The church has established an impressive clinic for dentistry, health care, obstetrical care, physical therapy, ophthalmology, and surgical referrals.

Today is clinic day, and the courtyard is filled with families. Volunteers are on hand to help with dental, physical therapy, general medicine, and optical needs. They spend a few days in the community, providing necessary care to the population, giving a chance for professionals to use their skills in an environment that is desperate for their help.

Every week for the last five years, IDEAS Associate Dr. Kurt brings his optical equipment up the four flights of stairs and sees as many as five patients an hour for six hours.

Two Jordanian women enter the examination area. The youngest is a recent nursing graduate and she is having trouble focusing. “It’s necessary for my job,” she explains. An exam showed her what clear vision would look like. She’s led over to a table where she picks from the wide array of frames. She picks one out, looks in the small oval mirror and smiles.

“I liked how I was treated today. The doctor listened to me and gave me great respect,” she said.

Dr. Kurt has an Arabic speaking interpreter, Ahmad,* to help listen to the patients and describe prescriptive solutions. Ahmad himself is an Iraqi refugee, his family escaping Baghdad in 2017.

“I never thought I would be interested in anything like this. But Dr. Kurt is so good to work with. I love the learning,” said Ahmad. 

In the reception area, the room is full of patients who are attending the different clinics. At the core of the operation is a Jordanian woman who acts as a receptionist and office traffic controller. She hears from all the patients and gushes over the services provided by Dr. Kurt.

“Everyone likes his way. He has such a good relationship with his patients,” she said. “They can understand his smile.”

One patient told her the previous week that the exam “was God’s blessing.” She pointed first to her face and then her chest. “I can see with my eyes and there is now light in my heart.”

The people who come in have a variety of ethnic backgrounds. The church’s open arms policy is well-known in the immigrant community.

Two sisters walk into the eye examination room. They want to make sure their eyes are healthy. Another woman brings her boy in. He holds his head high because the muscles behind his eyes won’t allow him to look up. This causes headaches. Dr. Kurt prescribes some glasses to reduce the strain.

Squinting, an older Iraqi woman confessed her previous glasses were hand-me-downs and they marginally helped her vision. She couldn’t remember her last eye exam. She patiently set her chin on the instrument as Dr. Kurt flipped the lens and asked her in Arabic whether the images on the wall are “good,” “better,” or “the same.”

At the end of the examination, he showed her the new prescription. She gasped and broke into a broad smile. “Now, I see!”

Dr. Kurt recognizes that many of his patients cannot afford eye care, so he works to make the exams free and the eyeglasses as inexpensive as possible. He has found a local optician to fill the prescriptions. The lens shaping is done in-house and provides the business with steady weekly business – about 50 eyeglasses are cut a week.

This also gives Kurt an opportunity to engage with local business owners and their customers.

An optical shop in Amman fills about 100 prescriptions a week from Dr. Kurt. The shop owner greets him by name and with a broad smile, never rushing this weekly visit. Kurt takes his seat on the sofa while she retrieves last week’s orders and processes the new prescriptions.

She is doing her part by offering a reduced rate for the cutting of the eyeglasses. And she’s grateful for the partnership with Dr. Kurt.

“He is a great customer. I am glad we can help his patients,” said the owner.

“Everyone offers refugees food and clothes,” she said, “but what if they cannot see?”

Ahmad helps fit the frames once they come in. He’s the one who sees the joy of clear eyesight.

“The doctor is usually giving an exam, so he doesn’t hear what I hear. He doesn’t always see the results of his work, but I do,” said Ahmad.

*Name has been changed to respect confidentiality.