MOSOKA FALLAH

As a child, Mosoka Fallah was a promising student who loved books and learning. Yet from an early age, he squinted to see the lessons on the chalkboard. He sat in the front row, listening very carefully, relying on friends for help. By 11th grade, he couldn’t make out the letters or numbers on the board. 

Mosoka grew up in Liberia with 10 siblings and his parents faced a daily struggle to feed their family, let alone buy their son the glasses he needed. When Mosoka was 16, his parents sent him on a long journey to a place he’d never been before, to find a man he’d never met before. This man was his wealthy uncle, his parents explained, who lived in another country and would help Mosoka buy a pair of glasses.  Mosoka walked alone for days and, after getting lost numerous times, eventually found his uncle. But he discovered that this man was not wealthy at all. To the contrary, his uncle could scarcely bear another burden. Yet somehow he was able to scrape together enough money to buy Mosoka his first pair of glasses. 

And those glasses changed Mosoka’s life. 

Mosoka went on to earn a Master’s degree in public health from Harvard and a PhD in microbiology from the University of Kentucky.  With those credentials, he could have launched a lucrative career. Instead, he chose a life of service and founded Refuge Place International (RPI), a medical clinic dedicated to lifting Liberian families out of poverty.   

RPI brought GoodVision USA and their transformative and sustainable model of vision care to Liberia.   

Mosoka’s story is proof that helping a child to see can help them stay in school.  “Without glasses, none of my achievements would exist,” Mosoka reflects. “I would have left school and given up.” He believes that no family should ever be forced to choose between feeding their children or helping them to see better.