Farid: A Project Roshni Story
Blinding headlights, pitch-dark highways, and long hours without rest, this is the nightly reality for thousands of truck drivers navigating the roads of Karnataka. In such a profession where every second demands precision and quick thinking, clear vision is critical to survival. Yet, for many drivers, eye care remains neglected, pushed aside by demanding schedules and limited access to affordable services. What should be a basic necessity is deferred often, allowing preventable vision problems to deteriorate. Over time, these unnoticed impairments become a danger not just to the drivers themselves but to everyone who shares the road with them.
Farid Khan, 48, truly understood the seriousness of his condition and the potential danger when, one night, while driving along a poorly lit highway had almost collided with a bus. The intense light of the high beams had scattered across his clouded vision, making it almost impossible to discern distance or perceive depth. “I couldn’t judge how far it was,” he recalls. And while he had narrowly avoided more fatal outcomes, the fear wouldn't leave him. Suddenly, he had begun to lose confidence in the very skill that had fed his family for the past ten years.
Relief finally came through Project Roshni, a specialised vision initiative implemented by the Making The Difference NGO in partnership with Interise. By bringing accessible eye screening camps directly to busy highway hubs, the project delivered essential healthcare straight to truck drivers, reaching individuals who usually have no way to access medical care while on the road.
For Farid, it was his first-ever eye check-up. During the screening, doctors diagnosed him with an early-stage cataract, a condition that seemed to have been accelerated by his years of exposure to harsh ultraviolet rays and relentless glare during long hours on the road. Farid admits. “I didn’t know something like this was happening to my eyes.”
Because the cataract was caught early, the medical team was able to counsel him immediately on the next steps for treatment, mapping out a clear path toward the surgical procedure needed to restore his vision. Farid left the camp with a sense of clarity and relief, knowing that he wouldn’t have to give up his livelihood permanently and could continue supporting his family without putting himself or others at risk.
Farid
Project Roshni
