African villagers have had their eyesight restored thanks to the endeavours of a dedicated Wembley optometrist.

Priya Morjaria's latest charity trip saw her visit remote areas of Malawi in east Africa and hand out hundreds of pairs of glasses to poorly-sighted locals on behalf of Vision Aid Overseas.

Priya, of Braemar Avenue, Wembley, joined four other optometrists and a dispensing optician for the expedition between April 26 and May 12.

The 25-year-old said: "I feel like I'm going out there and helping people because we go the remotest areas where we are needed most.

"In these areas there are people who can't make it to the cities where treatment is more readily available.

"The one thing that really hit me was the number of people affected by malaria.

"It can result in brain damage and we saw quite a few children who were affected in this way."

The Vision Aid Overseas team visited a number of villages in the south of the country and examined the eyes of 1,600 people, giving prescription glasses to about 1,400 of them.

One lucky recipient of glasses was ecstatic because it meant he could return to school, according to Priya.

She said: "There was a 24-year-old man who needed extremely strong prescription glasses.

"He had lost his own glasses 10 years ago and as a result he kept being put behind at school because he could not see.

"He was over the moon because it meant he could go back and finish his education."

However, not all of the meetings with the team ended happily - Priya said she was heart-broken after meeting a 10-year-old boy with permanently enlarged pupils, meaning sunlight was constantly damaging his vision.

Without an eye surgeon in their team nothing could be done, but Priya managed to fashion a pair of sunglasses from a child's frame and clip on lenses using a Swiss Army Knife to ease his suffering.

The 16-day-visit also resulted in some nervous moments for Priya and her colleagues, when they were stopped by local police who demanded money in bribes.

However the team was released after refusing to pay and continued with their work.

The expedition was Priya's third for the charity, having previously worked in Burkino Faso and Kolkata, India.

Her next effort for the Vision Aid Overseas is running the London 10km race in July, to sponsor her visit www.justgiving.com/priya10kmalawi .