AN optician's assistant has returned from Africa after helping people see for the first time and getting the chance to meet Sir Bob Geldof.

Michele de Vaal spent two weeks in Ethiopia testing eyesight and prescribing spectacles to people in rural towns and villages.

As a volunteer with charity Vision Aid Overseas, Mrs de Vaal, of East Witton, near Leyburn, North Yorkshire, helped improve the eyesight of nearly 1,000 people living in a country which has almost 70 million people, but not one optician.

The assistant for Cowen and Morgan opticians, in Ripon, said some of the people given glasses for the first time went into shock.

"One elderly lady got down on her knees and tried to kiss our feet," said Mrs de Vaal. She lived in the hills and told us she was now seeing her beautiful mountains for the first time."

The trip was the third time Mrs de Vaal had visited Ethiopia with the charity. It was made all the more special by a chance meeting with Sir Bob Geldof on the flight home. The writer of the original Band Aid single was in the country filming a TV documentary.

"He came and chatted with us for about 20 minutes on the plane," said Mrs de Vaal.

"We told him all about our work and at first I think he was a little sceptical, saying that the people couldn't eat glasses. But I think we convinced him that it was a worthwhile project."

Unwanted glasses can be donated to Vision Aid Overseas at opticians throughout the region.