In thick of so much buzz surrounding her ‘ban’ from acting and the apparent uncertainty of her fate, troubled actress  Yvonne Nelson has been making good use of her respite forging on with her quest to create awareness on glaucoma. Yvonne is offering a two-week fully-paid trip to the UK for the winner of her essay competition on glaucoma.

The Yvonne Nelson Glaucoma Foundation, which was launched October 2010, has introduced a Glaucoma Essay Competition for students across Ghana. The competition, which would take off later in the year, is to further raise awareness and convey her message about the glaucoma across Ghana via students. It will start from basic schools in the Greater Accra Region, where a registered number of pupils from various selected basic schools will be encouraged to write essays on a glaucoma topic provided by the foundation. A team of teachers will then mark the essays and winners will be picked. The main winner will work with Yvonne’s foundation and also get attractive prizes including laptops, two-week holiday in the UK and other packages.

Schools in Accra and Tema expected to take part in the essay competition include St. Michael Junior High School at Nungua, First Star Academy, SOS School, Tema Parents School, Datus Complex school, Creator Schools, Angels School, Michel Camp Schools, Witsand School, Happy Home School and Naval Base School, among others.Yvonne will be touring each of these schools ahead of the competition to interact with students, while tasking them to carry the glaucoma message home to their parents to get screened.

The actress over the weekend visited St. Michael’s Junior High School at Nungua, where she received a rousing welcome from both students and school officials. Yvonne advised the children to educate their parents to go for screening, hinting that she expects certificates from those who went for screening upon her advice, the next time she visits the school.

She also added that her foundation hopes to build a bigger platform for people to come for free screening in the future.   After the ceremony, Yvonne took photos with some of the pupil as well as teachers and headmaster of the school. This week, Yvonne is expected to continue her tour of the schools.