OPTOGLOBE Engages Optometry Student Leaders at Masinde Muliro University and Kenya Medical Training College

Kakamega and Nairobi, Kenya : 1 & 4 June 2026 — OPTOGLOBE, The Global Optometry Student Community, conducted institutional engagement visits in Kenya, meeting with student leaders at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) in Kakamega and the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) in Nairobi. The visits were conducted by OPTOGLOBE Founder Pemije Gadimoh and Julius Nyerere Kamencu, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Impact Lead of the Equipping the Future (ETF) Core Committee.

Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology : 1 June 2026

On 1 June 2026, a public holiday in Kenya, Pemije Gadimoh visited Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology in Kakamega, where he met with OPTOGLOBE Liaison Officers in Kenya, Executive Council members of the African Federation of Optometry Students (AFOS), and the leadership of both the Kenyan Optometry Students Association (KOSA) and the Masinde Muliro University Optometry Students Association (MMUOSA).

Discussions encompassed optometric education, student leadership and its responsibilities, advocacy at the institutional and continental levels, professional development, and the pathways through which greater collaboration among optometry student associations across Africa and beyond can be developed and sustained.

“It was encouraging to exchange perspectives with such passionate student leaders who were ready to converse despite today being a public holiday.”

Pemije Gadimoh, Founder, OPTOGLOBE

The engagement at MMUST brought together leadership from multiple layers of the African optometry student landscape — institutional, national, and continental — in a single substantive dialogue. OPTOGLOBE expressed its gratitude for the commitment and readiness shown by all participants.

Kenya Medical Training College — 4 June 2026

On the evening of 4 June 2026, OPTOGLOBE visited the Kenya Medical Training College in Nairobi, where Pemije Gadimoh and Julius Nyerere Kamencu met with members and leadership of the KMTC Optometry Students Association (KMTC OSA), led by its President, Mark Mwencha. Also present were Dr Daniel Mochere, President of the Optometrists Association of Kenya (OAK), and Julius Nyerere, Treasurer of the Kenyan Optometry Students Association (KOSA).

The engagement addressed student leadership, professional advocacy, international collaboration, and the role of students in shaping the future direction of optometry and eye care. Julius Nyerere Kamencu presented the ETF Global Needs Assessment Report to the assembled students and to Dr Mochere, placing student-generated evidence before both the student community it represents and Kenya’s national professional optometric body.

A central theme of the discussion was the responsibility of students to engage actively in professional affairs rather than await the conferral of professional status to do so. Students are not merely the future of the optometry profession — they are present stakeholders in it, with the capacity to contribute to advocacy, policy dialogue, and the quality of optometric education now.

“Break the status quo. Engage and advocate, even as students.”

Pemije Gadimoh, Founder, OPTOGLOBE — addressing KMTC OSA, Nairobi

The visit also produced a concrete institutional development. OPTOGLOBE and the KMTC student leadership agreed to work towards establishing a Know The Glow student chapter at KMTC, extending Know The Glow’s paediatric eye health awareness mission into the institution’s student body.

OPTOGLOBE thanks Dr Daniel Mochere and the Optometrists Association of Kenya for their engagement and their investment in student partnership. OPTOGLOBE further thanks Mark Mwencha and the leadership of KMTC OSA for their warm reception and their commitment to advancing student leadership and international collaboration within their institution.

About OPTOGLOBE

OPTOGLOBE — The Global Optometry Student Community — is a student-led international organisation founded on 7 April 2024, spanning 52 countries with 15 member student associations. OPTOGLOBE’s mandate encompasses student advocacy, optometric education, professional development, and global eye health partnership. Its institutional partners include Optometry Giving Sight, VOSH International, the World Council of Optometry, the Arclight Project, and Know The Glow.