1:30min
When Optometry Australia member, Andrew Koch, first set foot in Dili in May 2002, the capital of Timor Leste was still reeling from conflict.
The city had been decimated by militia violence following the independence referendum, with half its buildings burnt out, electricity limited to a few hours in the evening and no running water.
Inside a hospital wing riddled with bullet holes and broken windows, Andrew and his fellow volunteers witnessed the devastating reality of a nation with no access to eye care.
“The people attending our clinic had significant vision problems and no access to spectacles, medication or treatment,” Andrew recalls.
“One in five people we saw was blind in one or both eyes. Children were malnourished and many were permanently blinded by vitamin A deficiency. Others had been deliberately injured in the violence. I had two small children at home at the time, the same age as many of these victims. It was very confronting – but also a call to action.”
That moment was the beginning of what would become the ProVision Optometry Team (PVOT) – a group of Tasmanian optometrists who would dedicate nearly two decades to rebuilding eye care in Timor Leste from the ground up.
In August 2025, that contribution was recognised at the highest level, when East Timor President José Ramos-Horta awarded the Order of Timor Leste medal to Andrew Koch, Sib Payne, Andrew Maver, Colin McKenzie and the late Micheal Knipe.
From crisis response to building a system
The early years of the program were defined by improvisation, grit and resilience.
With no freight services available, volunteers packed donated glasses, medications and equipment into airline luggage. Outreach meant long, uncomfortable drives in the back of utes, with no certainty of transport back to Dili.
Volunteers slept in church rectories, relied on priests and nuns for meals and worked without phones or postal services to make arrangements.
“Logistics and language were huge barriers,” Andrew says.
“We relied on local hospital staff who spoke limited English and interpreters who knew many dialects but had no medical training. I made it a mission to learn as much Tetum as possible and created training resources so volunteers could conduct exams in the local language.”
But even in those conditions, the impact was immediate.
“Helping someone to see again with glasses was transforming. Quiet villagers would suddenly exclaim when they could see. That built our reputation more than anything.”
Trust grew not only with communities, but also with leaders.
Both President Xanana Gusmão and future President José Ramos-Horta visited the clinics in the early days, had their eyes tested and encouraged the volunteers to keep returning.
Collaboration at the core
What began as emergency trauma care evolved into a comprehensive national program thanks to collaboration. The East Timor Eye Program (ETEP), supported by ProVision, Optometry Giving Sight and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS), created a structure that brought optometrists and ophthalmologists together.
Over nearly 20 years, the program:
- provided eye care to thousands in remote areas
- established clinics in every district
- trained nurses as refractionists and later optometrists
- supported Timorese surgeons through training with Australian ophthalmologists
- set up an optical lab and supply chain so glasses could be made locally
By 2020, the Ministry of Health was independently running services across the country – a milestone that meant the ProVision Optometry Team could step back, having achieved their goal.
Stories from the frontline
For Sib Payne, who joined the team as a second-year optometry student in 2002, the work was life-changing. She remembers one outreach trip to Los Palos with Andrew Koch where three optometrists saw 600 patients in a single day.
“We worked until it was too dark to see,” Sib says.
“We were exhausted, but people had walked for hours, even days, to see us. If they missed out, no one knew when they’d next have access to eye care. That knowledge kept us going.”
The emotional weight of the work was immense. Volunteers witnessed trauma, extreme poverty and preventable blindness daily.
“Being a witness to that leaves scars as well as strengths,” Andrew says. “It drives you to keep going, but it also stays with you forever.”
Leadership also played a vital role.
The late Micheal Knipe was remembered as the steady hand of the optometry contingent – tireless, organised and always armed with a smile and a dad joke.
His influence stretched well beyond the program, as a long-serving ProVision chair, past National President of Optometry Australia and a mentor to many young optometrists.
Passing the torch
The proudest moments for the volunteers came when their roles shifted from delivering services to mentoring Timorese colleagues.
Andrew recalls the first time outreach clinics were run entirely by local staff:
“I realised I was no longer the worker bee. I was just the mentor. That was always the goal.”
For Sib, the program highlighted the versatility of optometry and the importance of stepping outside the walls of private practice.
“Outreach makes you think creatively, and it reignites passion for the profession. Even though we’re no longer needed in Timor, many of us have taken those skills back into work with remote, Aboriginal and disadvantaged communities here in Australia.”
A legacy that lives on
The medal ceremony in Dili this year was both celebratory and emotional.
Standing alongside volunteers from other humanitarian programs, the optometrists reflected on years of “strain, struggle, fatigue, collaboration and joyful celebration”
For Andrew, the recognition was bittersweet.
“It brought back memories, some deeply hidden – of trauma, success and endurance. But most of all, it was a reminder that optometrists have skills that can transform lives far beyond our consulting rooms.”
Though the East Timor Eye Program concluded in 2020, its legacy continues.
Total Eyecare and other ProVision practices now channel that same spirit into the Visiting Optometry Scheme, providing services to remote and Aboriginal communities in Tasmania.
As Andrew puts it:
“In Australia, sometimes we’re treating the worried well. In Timor, we witnessed the profound impact of our profession – the ability to restore independence, dignity, and hope to people. That’s something I’ll carry forever.”