When John Popa of Bingham Township made it to the ruins of the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu, he achieved one of his life goals.

“It was the most incredible experience I have ever lived, and also was extremely moving,” he said Monday.

Popa got a chance to visit the historic ruins as part of a 10-day trip to Peru with a non-profit organization, Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH). He returned to the snow and cold of Michigan Jan. 26 after more than a week of pleasant weather conditions in the South American country.
JOHN POPA sits by the terraced ruins of the Machu Picchu in Peru, also known as “The Lost City of the Incas.”
“This trip was to the village of Coya, which is located nearly two miles up in the high Andes mountains. It is located in the Scared Valley of the Incas about 40 miles east of Cuzco,” Popa said. He called the climate mild, adding there is no indoor heat in most of the buildings.

Popa was one of 12 volunteers in a group that also had four doctors and a student. “My job was to screen all patients using a portable auto refractor that recorded the eye prescription readings for our doctors. The doctors then verified everything and the patient would be fitted with some glasses as necessary,” he said.

The refractor used during eye exams helped determine visual acuity. Popa said he’d used auto refractors before on previous mission trips, but not one of the new hand-held devices.

“It takes about 10 minutes to learn how to use it. You point the device into the patient’s eye, it sends out a light and then records how the eye reacts to the light. It prints out those readings on strip of paper,” Popa said. He recorded the numbers on a form, attached the strip of paper and handed them to another volunteer before moving on to the next patient.

Popa has been on previous VOSH missions to Honduras and Mexico arranged through his eye doctor, Dr. Robert Foote, though the Peruvian trip was organized by another doctor. For each mission the trip leader makes contact with local individuals, not government officials, of a country to set up an eye clinic. Popa said the clinics are usually held at a school, public center or medical facility.

“A leader will arrange to bring eye screening equipment, tools, medicine, and thousands of prescription glasses. All this equipment is carried on the trip as a second piece of luggage for those going as team members,” he said.

The thousands of prescription eye glasses come via donations from various civic groups, mainly the Lions and Rotary clubs. The glasses are cleaned, checked, documented, packaged and categorized for future use.
JOHN POPA uses a portable auto refractor on a resident of the Peruvian village of Coya. Popa said 669 patients, most of them direct descendants of the Incas, were seen by members of the mission trip that conducted eye exams last month.
“We saw 669 patients while we were there,” he said. Most of the patients were Peruvian Indians, direct descendants of the Incas. Popa said it was an incredible experience living among them
“They are extremely poor and their living off the land. The inhabitants are extremely friendly and live practically crime-free,” he said. The mission group stayed in a building that was recently completed to house groups visiting the village to help the local people.

During the last three days of the trip, Popa visited Machu Picchu and the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco. Machu Picchu, also known as “The Lost City of the Incas,” was named as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and is one of the most visited tourist attractions in South America.

“I have always wanted to visit Machu Picchu. I’ve read about the ruins all my life and getting a chance to go there and walk around the place, it was amazing,” he said. Machu Picchu was a holy place for the Incas and they had only inhabited the city for about 100 years before it was abandoned when explorer Francisco Pizarro destroyed the Inca Empire as part of the Spanish Conquest, according to Popa.

“Pizarro never found the site and it was abandoned by the Incas. It was rediscovered by explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911,” he said. Popa also toured Cuzco, another Inca city over run by the Spaniards during the time of the Conquistadors.

“The Spaniards also made this their capital and built many churches and buildings on Inca ruins after they were destroyed. There are exceptional churches and one cathedral has over 300 paintings,” Popa said. Many of the churches’ altars and paintings are covered with tissue-thin gold and silver.

“It was awe-inspiring, but yet pathetic because it was stolen from the Incas and used by the Spanish Christian church,” Popa said.

Being part of the mission was both fun and rewarding for Popa, and he’d like to make another trip some time in the near future.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Costa Rica, it’s a beautiful place,” he said.

Popa said he would encourage anyone who is interested in doing similar volunteer work to either talk with their local eye doctor or visit VOSH’s websitew, www.vosh.org. Generally, the cost isn’t too steep, he said.

“It cost me about $1,400, which included the airplane ticket and processing fees. Once you’re there food and housing are provided,” he said.