AN optician from Bolton will be helping to save the sight of people in Africa.

Cara McAllister, aged 24, an optician at Specsavers Opticians, on Market Street, Bolton is to be part of a mercy mission to Uganda to provide eyecare to some of the poorest people in the world.

She will be leaving from Heathrow Airport on Friday as part of a six-man team organised by the UK charity, Vision Aid Overseas.

For two weeks, the team will give free eyetests and eyecare to the people in Uganda who otherwise would not have the money or the access to such care.

Miss McAllister, who lives in Rochdale, has raised £600 in order to take part in the trip. She said: "This trip will literally change the lives of the people we treat. Uganda is a very poor country and people may never see an optician throughout their lives. I'm really pleased to be going as I can offer my skills to people who really need them. It's a fantastic opportunity."

The optician, who moved from Glasgow seven years ago, has worked at the Bolton branch for six months and decided to join the mission after a fellow optician, Carolyn Steggles from the Altrincham branch of Specsavers, took part in a similar project last year.

The group are also on allowed to take a limited amount of luggage as much of the sight testing equipment will be flown across with them.

The Specsavers store in Bolton has collected nearly 300 pairs of glasses for the sight saving team to take to Uganda to give to the 250 eye tests each day will be doing each day.