Durban - One of the world’s foremost ophthalmological surgeons, London-based Dr David Verity, is back in Durban, where he spent part of his childhood, for a conference at the ICC.
Verity said his return to South Africa was long overdue and a previously planned trip was halted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The trip has been nostalgic for him as he recalled his childhood, from growing up in Essenwood, Musgrave, 48 years ago, to moving to Kimberly and playing around mine holes searching for diamonds.
He also remembered crank-starting his father’s car when it broke down in a game park with lions close by, and his father, Henry John Verity, a navy doctor, as probably wilder than the lions. Other good memories include riding in an ambulance to get to the bus stop to go to school, and being chased by secretary birds.
But having experienced the segregation of apartheid and growing up in “a strange world”, he became driven to connect people.
“Life for me began in the mid-60s in Portsmouth, England. In the late ‘60s we moved to Singapore for a couple of years and later, my father’s work brought us to Durban.
“From my hotel room this morning, I recalled learning to swim in Durban and it reminded me of my fondness for South Africa. I think my experiences growing up in a divided society in the ‘70s propelled me to the work that I do now in St John,” he said.
His first connection to the Order of St John came when, at just 16 years old, he went to work at a hospital run by the organisation in Gaza. All he did, he said, was make coffee and organise the library, but the seed was sown. He wanted to do something that would be helpful to people, so he joined St John and worked with poverty-stricken communities and trained other doctors while he worked at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.
Much of his volunteer work is done through St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group. Verity holds the title of “the Hospitaller in the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem”.
“I think St John is perhaps even more important than my career because it is an organisation that is 1 000 years old (in November), and includes everybody irrespective of race and social status. They also make people’s lives better with so many different health programmes ‒ whenever I am in Jerusalem I am aghast with what they achieve there,” he said.
Verity is proud of all they have accomplished and he has become an unapologetic arm twister, a skill he hoped to use to reach more people ‒ such as the people at the Ophthalmological Society of SA's national conference at the Durban ICC which ends today.
“I think I am in the position to pull leaders into this work,” he said.
His children, Harry and Gregoria, are “the next generation” of St John members, being involved in the iYouth programme that inspires the young to get involved.
The order, which is non-political and open to people of all faiths, is active across South Africa and offers services such as affordable eye care, first aid training and ambulance services. The Durban office is in KE Masinga Road (Old Fort Road).
“They serve people and believe in acting to benefit societies. They also provide services to their neighbours wherever they are, bringing communities practical action on the ground,” he said.
He said the highest point of his career come with helping those who need it most, like treating patients in Gaza and seeing people who had nothing and were struggling.
Verity said one of life’s precious gifts was being able to see and people often took it for granted.
"A condition such as amblyopia (the lazy eye), for example, can be avoided early if a child's poor vision can be corrected at an early age. That is why checking a child's eyesight is so important. You never know how valuable your eyesight is until you don’t have it,” he said.
He encouraged people to be relentless when they understand what it was that they wanted to do.
“Do what you have to do and find what fires you and do it at any cost. Have stamina and work hard because nothing worthwhile comes without hard work. Have your vision of what you are trying to achieve. Life has twists and turns, and you can predict little, but do what you can do,” he said.
The Independent on Saturday