Horibala, from the village of Godashimla, Bangladesh, likes to keep busy. The 65-year-old finds joy and motivation in her favourite pastimes: sewing and travel.
But for years, she was unable to enjoy these activities as her eyes clouded over with cataracts.
“I couldn’t see at all,” she recalls. “Even when I closed one eye to see anything, it was blurry. I felt helpless.”
As her eyesight faded, she found herself depending on others for almost everything. Simple tasks like washing clothes, making a meal or even lighting the cooking stove were impossible.
Things turned around for Horibala after a visit from an optometrist from the Madarganj Vision Centre, run by our partners at Symbiosis International, who was doing a door-to-door survey. The optometrist referred Horibala to our partner institute, the Dr. K. Zaman BNSB Eye Hospital in the nearby city of Mymensingh, for bilateral cataract surgery.
Thanks to the generous support of donors like you, her sight was finally restored.
The medication she received at her follow-up appointments relieved the discomfort of watery eyes after surgery. Soon, she regained her ability to see.
“Now, I can do everything. There’s a big difference between being able to see and not seeing at all,” she says. “For the past year, I’ve been able to work, sew and even travel. My life feels normal again.”
Now overflowing with gratitude for her regained sight, Horibala acts as an advocate in her community, encouraging people to take care of their eyes.
“I tell everyone: if you have an eye problem, don’t wait. Go to this hospital and get treated immediately. Being able to see again is priceless!”
Donate today to help more people like Horibala see clearly again!
In the small village of Adawukwa Fianko, nestled in the Awutu Senya District of Ghana’s Central Region, lives an 84-year-old man named Ayetu. For the past five years, he has been grappling with visual impairment, due to an eye disease that has drastically altered his life. Once a dedicated farmer, he now relies on his 75-year-old wife, Adwoa, to tend to their farm and provide for them.
Ayetu's journey with glaucoma began a decade ago when he first noticed problems with his vision. A visit to the hospital confirmed his fears: he was diagnosed with glaucoma, a condition that damages the optic nerve and can lead to blindness if untreated. The cost of the necessary eye drops was a heavy burden on his finances, often preventing him from attending his monthly check-ups. In desperation, he turned to herbal remedies, but his vision continued to deteriorate.
"From the year 2020 until 2022, I stopped visiting the hospital because of severe financial hardship that I faced,” Ayetu recalls. “My vision kept deteriorating until I became totally blind in my left eye, leaving me with a little vision in my right eye, which I depend on now."
In 2022, a ray of hope appeared. Thanks to support from our generous donors, we introduced a program to provide free glaucoma medication for patients like Ayetu.
Ayetu shares his journey, reflecting on the moments that shaped his experience: "I was overwhelmed with gratitude when I started receiving these medications every month. The pain and tearing in my eyes have ceased, and the pressure in my eyes has stabilized. I probably would have lost the remaining vision in my right eye if not for the free glaucoma medication given to me every month."
What is glaucoma?
Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes damage to the optic nerve, which is essential for vision. This damage is often due to increased pressure inside the eye, known as intraocular pressure. It is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, but with early detection and proper treatment, its progression can be slowed or even halted. Regular eye exams are crucial for early detection and management of glaucoma. If detected early, treatments such as medications, laser therapy or surgery can help slow or prevent further vision loss. Unfortunately, many people like Ayetu struggle to afford the necessary treatment.
As we observe World Glaucoma Week (March 9-15, 2025), we invite you to join us in making a difference. You can help more people like Ayetu by giving the Gift of Sight today. Please consider making a donation in honour of World Glaucoma Week.
Thank you to all our donors for your continued support. Your generosity changes lives and brings hope to those in need — For All The World To See!
With files from Dora Ewusi, Project Coordinator – Awutu Senya, Ghana
Look at those big, beautiful eyes! This is baby Aarsh, from a small village just outside Moradabad city, in Uttar Pradesh, India. At seven months old, he weighs about seven pounds – what many babies weigh at birth.
Aarsh’s mother, Shabana, was only seven months pregnant when she delivered him prematurely. Little Aarsh had been in an incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at their nearby hospital for 15 days when his parents learned that he needed to have his eyes screened for Retinopathy of Prematurity, or ROP.
ROP is one of the leading causes of vision loss in children, and preterm infants are at high risk of developing this blinding condition. ROP occurs when abnormal blood vessels grow and spread throughout the retina, the tissue that lines the back of the eye. These abnormal blood vessels are fragile and can leak, which can scar the retina and pull it out of position. This causes a retinal detachment and visual impairment.
To save a child’s sight, early detection and treatment of ROP are critical. Unfortunately, many infants go undiagnosed due to the lack of awareness of ROP and the lack of screening services available outside of tertiary-level hospitals. That’s why we are working with partners like C.L. Gupta Eye Institute (CLGEI), located in Moradabad city, to provide remote diagnosis and referral services for at-risk infants and their families. With a case of specialized teleophthalmology equipment and pediatric supplies in hand, optometrists from CLGEI regularly visit 40 NICUs and maternity centres across the Moradabad District, where they capture retinal images of premature infants with assistance from nursing staff who help keep the wriggly babies calm and still.
When Aarsh’s parents first learned their baby could have ROP, they were fearful of the treatment process, and they refused to have Aarsh screened in the NICU. Fortunately, the team at CLGEI are known for their compassion and persistence. After continuous follow-up phone calls and messages from the ROP Coordinator, Aarsh’s parents agreed to bring the little boy, then six weeks old, to CLGEI for screening.
Aarsh’s retinal images revealed that he had ROP in both eyes and required urgent treatment to prevent blindness. First, his eyes would be injected with a drug that inhibits abnormal blood vessel growth, then, at a later appointment, he would receive laser treatment.
Shabana couldn’t help but get emotional she when she heard Aarsh’s little cries from the next room as the doctor did the injections. She knew that timely treatment was necessary to save her son’s sight, but still the tears streamed down her face. Her little one wasn’t even two months old, and he’d already been through so much.
Following the injections, Aarsh’s eyes were covered with bandages, and they were sent home that same day with eye drops and a list of post-procedure instructions. No doubt, the experience was a lot for Aarsh’s parents to take in, worrying about their newborn baby who required special care while also tending to their other children; but they took comfort in knowing that the pediatric staff at CLGEI were available to help them every step of the way.
Later that week, Aarsh received laser treatment. The procedure, which is done with local anesthetic, uses a beam of light to create scar tissue on the outer edges of the baby’s retina, which prevents abnormal blood vessels from forming.
Aarsh’s family went for several follow-up visits. His parents were diligent about making and keeping their appointments, even though it meant that his father, Ajmat, had to close his shop so they could travel to the hospital, which meant a loss of income. They were thankful that Aarsh’s treatment was provided free of charge. They were also grateful to the CLGEI staff who checked in with them and sent them reminders.
Today, Aarsh is doing great, and his vision is good. His mother, who is also happy and in good health, says that Aarsh even watches cartoons on the television like his big brother and sister.
“Little Aarsh's journey is a testament to the transformative power of our ROP screening program. Through the dedication of our team and the support of generous donors, we're not just preventing blindness; we're nurturing futures," says Lokesh Chauhan, Deputy General Manager at CLGEI.
“Aarsh's bright eyes now reflect a world of possibilities, and his story motivates us to continue our mission of bringing vision and hope to every child in need."
Aarsh will require lifelong follow-up visits. Doctors have stressed to his parents the importance of regular eye exams, as infants with ROP are at higher risk for developing other eye problems later in life, such as myopia (nearsightedness), strabismus (crossed eyes), amblyopia (lazy eye) and glaucoma. In many cases, these eye problems can be treated or controlled.
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, the diligence of Aarsh’s parents, and the expertise of the staff at CLGEI, little Aarsh has a big future ahead of him.
Please donate today to help more infants like Aarsh.
Between textbooks, whiteboards and videos in class, most of the information that’s presented to kids at school is visual. So what does that mean for a child who can’t see clearly?
In countries where eye health care is difficult to access, a simple eye condition like myopia (nearsightedness) can cause a student to fall behind and even drop out of school, which in turn could affect the child’s income for the rest of his or her life.
Ensuring that Quality Education is available to all children is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda. We’re working towards this goal by ensuring that more children get the eye health care they need to thrive at school and take charge of their education.
According to a survey by the World Bank, children with visual impairments in sub-Saharan Africa are five percentage points less likely to ever be enrolled in school or to complete primary school. They are six percentage points less likely to be literate.1
The links between academic performance and visual impairment can be harder to draw given the complexity of the issue, but one survey from francophone countries in Africa found that primary school students – who self-reported difficulties with their vision – performed worse on standardized tests in math and reading in all but one of the 10 participating countries.2 Similarly, a Stanford study of 20,000 fourth and fifth graders in rural China found that eyeglasses boosted the standardized test scores by 18 per cent over six months.3
Even studies from higher income countries, where children have better access to eye health care, show that students with poor vision tend to read more slowly than their peers and are more likely to report that they don’t like reading.4 Visual fatigue is a likely culprit for both, and the resulting headaches and tiredness that these kids experience are also thought to play a role in behavioral issues at school.
Roughly 22.16 million children ages 14 and under have Moderate to Severe Vision Impairment (MSVI) and 44.6 million have mild vision impairment, according to a panel of global health professionals called the Vision Loss Expert Group.5
Only 20-50 per cent of the children who need prescription eyeglasses worldwide actually own a pair.6 Often, this is due to a lack of access to eye health care. In rural, remote or underserved communities, especially in low- and middle-income countries, many kids don’t get regular eye exams or have access to prescription eyeglasses and other treatment. This could be due to financial constraints, lack of education about the importance of eye health, or simply because there aren’t any optometry clinics nearby.
Across lower-income communities, schools may also lack electricity or lighting, making it even more difficult for a student with vision impairment to read information written on a blackboard. Lack of adequate lighting at home can also cause difficulties in completing homework. For a secondary student who is already falling behind in class, not being able to finish homework in a timely manner could end their school career, and cause them to drop out early.
Isaac Baffoe, who manages our school eye health programs in Ghana, says one student’s story really stuck with him. The girl reported that her eyesight started to fade when she was about 12 years old, and by age 15 she had severe vision impairment. For years, she relied on a classmate to read the blackboard out loud to her during class. Isaac often wonders what would have happened to her if her friend hadn’t been so helpful, or even more importantly, if our school eye health program hadn’t reached her school and she hadn’t gotten prescription eyeglasses.
Our field staff hear a lot about the difficulties that students face before they get eyeglasses. One student in Ethiopia reported that she and her friend were frequently scolded when the friend read the blackboard notes aloud to her. Others reported that their grades dropped sharply, or that they lost interest in their studies. Many children say that they asked their parents to take them to the eye doctor, but due to tight finances or difficulty in reaching a clinic, they weren’t able to get the eye care they needed.
The good news is that, with your ongoing support, we are changing all of this – one school and one child at a time.
Part of our goal at Operation Eyesight is to reach every single member of a community with eye health care, ensuring that nobody gets left behind. Increasingly, we’re screening school-aged children for eye issues right in the classroom.
In 2023 alone, our school eye health programs helped us screen more than 240,000 students in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal and Zambia.
In Kenya, we’ve partnered with the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Child Blindness Program and Peek Vision to deliver an innovative program where teachers are trained to do the initial eye health screenings using a simple smartphone app. This allows us to screen more students overall, while still providing referrals to those children identified with eye problems to get a complete eye exam with a healthcare professional.
In Ghana, we train community health nurses to help deliver our school eye health programs, also in partnership with USAID and with funding from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Latter-day Saints Charities. In addition to conducting school eye health screenings, the nurses provide the students with eye health education sessions, where they learn how to prevent eye injuries and infections and learn about various conditions, like refractive errors (the need for eyeglasses). By making sure children have basic eye health information and know where to go for subsidized eye care, whole families are made aware of the services that are available to them.
Isaac, who has been on hand during several of these school screening events, says the children are always very eager to get involved. “The children show lots of interest. They want to participate,” he explains. “During all the screenings we’ve attended to audit, the children are very cooperative, they really want to know what is going on.”
He adds that it’s not just the students who are happy with getting a pair of eyeglasses.
“It’s not only a relief to the children, but also to the teachers,” he says, “because it also made their work difficult to spend extra time with these children who were struggling with their studies prior to receiving eyeglasses.”
In November 2020, the borehole in the Zambian village of Kangwa broke down. The COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing, and the need for clean water was more urgent than ever. For Natasha, a teenager who was in high school at the time, the breakdown had devastating consequences. As the family member tasked with fetching water, Natasha now had to walk several kilometres each day to complete the chore, meaning she could no longer attend school. She wasn’t alone – other teenage girls in her community were in the same situation.
When our team in Zambia found out about the broken borehole, they sprang into action and quickly got it fixed. They were well equipped to do so, because we have been working with communities to repair and drill boreholes for many years to curb the spread of trachoma.
Trachoma is a bacterial eye infection that’s common in areas with water shortages and crowded living conditions. The bacteria spreads easily through contact with eye discharge from infected people on hands and clothing, and also through direct transmission by flies. If left untreated, it can cause severe pain, vision loss and even blindness. In fact, it is the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide.
When we work with communities in areas of Zambia, Ethiopia and Kenya where trachoma is endemic, we ensure that water and sanitation issues are part of our intervention. In communities like Kangwa, this means training local volunteer teams to help maintain and repair broken boreholes, and training community WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) teams to educate their neighbours about preventing trachoma transmission in the home.
In order to ensure that girls have equal access to quality education, clean water and sanitation facilities must be part of the solution. (Watch this video to learn more about the ripple effects of clean water.)
Myopia (nearsightedness) rates are on the rise all over the world. In 2020, the global prevalence was 30 per cent. It’s estimated to rise to 50 per cent by 2050.7
In China, where the rise in myopia in children is being described as an epidemic, the government has rolled out a nation-wide strategy to curb the growth, which includes school-based eye screenings, public health education campaigns, a reduction in homework and an increase in time spent outdoors.8
As suggested by China’s strategies, many of the factors contributing to the rise of myopia are likely due to modern lifestyles: more time spent indoors, doing near-work like homework, and more time spent parked in front of digital devices.
But there may be more at play in the phenomenon, including environmental risks like increasing urbanization and changing diets. As low- to middle-income countries become more urbanized and educational pressures mount, children everywhere are at increased risk of developing the refractive error. In parts of Africa and Asia where families already face difficulties accessing eye health care, the gap between eye health services and those in need of treatment will continue to grow.
As part of our 2024-2028 Global Strategy, we are committed to providing eye health care and clean water to more children so that they can take full advantage of any educational opportunities they are presented with. This means integrating WASH projects with school eye health projects and rolling out more school eye health programs across our countries of work.
We have already seen much success with our school eye health programs in countries like Kenya and Ghana, where we’re working with the local ministries of health and education. Now, it’s time to scale our efforts to more schools, more districts and more countries. With your ongoing support, we can expand our reach and improve the quality of life for more kids around the world.
Donate today and help us restore sight and prevent blindness for more children. The Gift of Sight is the gift of education and the gift of opportunity. Thank you for your support!
The oldest of four kids, 14-year-old Isaac is his mother’s biggest helper – assisting with chores like cleaning, sweeping and looking after his younger siblings. But a few years back, Isaac started having problems finding things around the house.
One day, his mom, Samanta, sent him outside to sweep the compound, but he came back complaining that he couldn’t locate the broom. When she went to look for herself, she saw the broom lying on the porch in plain sight and realized there was something wrong with Isaac’s eyesight.
As a single mom, Samanta works hard as a trader in the marketplace in their village of Oponso, in Ghana’s Central Region. She knew that an eye exam, and any subsequent treatments, would be out of her budget.
Hope arrived during an eye health screening at Isaac’s school, where staff identified his eye condition. His younger sister, five-year-old Grace, also got a referral for further examination. The school eye health screening was made possible through our partnerships with Ghana Health Service and Ghana Education Service and funded by the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Child Blindness Program.
The program trains community health nurses and school employees to perform basic eye screenings. Students requiring follow-up receive referrals to the nearest hospital. Because of the increased efficiency, entire schools – students and teachers alike – can be screened in a fraction of the time it would take otherwise.
Samanta brought the two children to our partner hospital, Watborg Eye Services, in nearby Accra, and both received diagnoses for cataracts. They were quickly scheduled in for surgery, which was provided free of charge.
Three weeks later, our program staff caught up with Samanta, who was thrilled with her children’s progress, now that they are free from cataracts. She says little Grace now spends more time outside playing with her friends. As for Isaac, he once again helps around the house, happy that his future is back in focus.
With story and photo files from Isaac Owusu Baffoe
This story was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of Operation Eyesight Canada and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
At first, a trachoma infection looks a bit like a case of pink eye: red, irritated eyes, maybe some swelling and discharge1. But for many people in the world, a trachoma infection is a serious concern. If left untreated, it can lead to severe pain, vision loss and even blindness. The bacteria that cause trachoma spread through direct personal contact, through shared towels and clothing, and through flies that have been in contact with an infected person. And there’s a simple solution for reducing its spread…
Clean water.
When communities have access to abundant clean water, they can wash their hands and faces regularly, do laundry more often, and prevent the otherwise relentless transmission of the disease. That’s why we are working hard with communities and partner organizations to make sure that the people in our project areas have access to a local, sustainable clean water source.
There’s been a lot of good news in the eradication of trachoma in recent years. In 2023 alone, Benin, Iraq and Mali each received certification from the World Health Organization (WHO) for eliminating trachoma as a public health problem. Also, the number of people at risk of getting the infection fell from 125 million in 2022 to 115.7 million in 2023, a significant reduction.2
But the hard work must go on.
Ethiopia has some of the highest rates of trachoma worldwide, with the prevalence in the Amhara Region estimated to be nearly 63 per cent. In that country, trachoma is the second leading cause of blindness overall.3
Trachoma continues to infect people in 42 countries and has caused blindness or visual impairment in roughly 1.9 million people. It remains the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide. And the effect on the workforce in these countries is huge. According to a recent paper by the WHO, the loss of productivity due to trachoma costs somewhere between US $3-8 billion each year.4
To people like Stephen, in Narok County, Kenya, having trachoma meant not being able to support his family. The father of four, who works as a motorcycle courier, struggled with the infection for years. He tried eye drops, eyeglasses and several surgeries before the trichiasis in his right eye, caused by repeat trachoma infections, was fully resolved.
Since undergoing a successful final surgery at one of our partner hospitals, the young man now acts as an eye health ambassador in his community, making sure people know what the infection is, the role of hygiene in stopping its spread, and how to get it treated.
Years of repeat infection from trachoma causes scarring to the eyelid. This scarring can be so severe that the eyelid turns inward, causing the eyelashes to rub against the eyeball. This leads to severe pain, light intolerance and scarring of the cornea.
If left untreated, the damage to the cornea can cause vision impairment, usually between the ages of 30 to 40 years5, although it can happen in children as well. Trachoma causes 1.4 per cent of blindness globally.6
Women become blind from trachoma four times as often as men. This is likely due to frequent infections they get while caring for small children, who often pass trachoma on to others.
At Operation Eyesight, we follow the WHO’s SAFE strategy for controlling and preventing trachoma. SAFE stands for:
S: Surgery to treat trichiasis (the painful late stage of the disease)
A: Antibiotics to eliminate infection
F: Face washing and hygiene education
E: Environmental improvement including wells and latrines
The foundation for the strategy is environmental improvement, namely – providing access to clean water. Over the decades, we’ve worked with communities to rehabilitate and drill hundreds of boreholes. In recent years, most of our work with water has been concentrated in Zambia and Kenya, but we are also getting involved in more water projects in Ethiopia as we expand our programs there.
Along with drilling and rehabilitation, we work with local governments to make sure people can fix the boreholes when they break down. In Zambia, that means financing the training of volunteers called Area Pump Minders (APMs) to do routine maintenance and repair of boreholes. The program helps ensure that there is a system for repair work, with locally-available toolkits and spare parts, and that monitoring of the water supply is happening at the village level. In addition to helping their communities, some of the APMs go on to find paid work repairing privately-owned boreholes. Over the last two years, we’ve seen several women join the traditionally all-male teams, and we hope to recruit more in future.
The community involvement doesn’t stop there. We also work with volunteers to form WASH committees who help educate other people, especially children, in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. In Ethiopia, we are working with partners to train teachers in WASH so they can pass on their knowledge to thousands of students. Our work in Ethiopia has also involved fixing up latrines and providing menstrual supplies, both of which can help keep teenaged girls in school longer.
Antibiotics also go a long way to preventing and treating existing cases of trachoma. We work with local governments and partner organizations to provide these antibiotics to areas with high prevalence of trachoma. Earlier this year, we collaborated with partners in a Mass Drug Administration project in Kenya’s Narok County. Despite wet road conditions that made it challenging for crews to access all the communities, the project managed to administer the antibiotic azithromycin to more than 215,000 people!
Throughout the process, our trained community health volunteers work tirelessly to provide education on the importance of facial cleanliness and environmental improvements in stopping the spread of trachoma.
Finally, with help from our generous donors, our partner hospitals can offer surgeries free of charge to people with advanced stages of trichiasis to alleviate the pain and prevent further loss of sight.
We’re involved in clean water projects as a means of preventing trachoma, but the effects of providing clean water to communities are countless. The installation and maintenance of boreholes prevents dozens of waterborne diseases that sicken and threaten the lives of many, and that keep whole communities trapped in the cycle of poverty. Sustainable boreholes help people grow gardens full of fresh vegetables, allow them to raise livestock and improve the quality of life for everyone around them.
The effects of access to clean water are especially beneficial to women and girls. Here’s why:
Education and economic opportunities: In many communities, women and girls are responsible for fetching water, a task that can be extremely time consuming and physically demanding. This can prevent girls from attending school and women from pursuing income-generating activities. When clean water is locally available, girls are more likely to complete their schooling, and women have more time for activities that empower them economically.
Reduced gender-based violence: Providing access to clean water within communities reduces the need for women and girls to travel long distances for water, decreasing their vulnerability to the violence and harassment that they risk when collecting water.
Hygiene and menstrual health: Clean water is essential for maintaining proper hygiene, including menstrual sanitation. When women have access to clean water and sanitation facilities, it positively affects their overall health and dignity.
Community development: Women are often key contributors to the well-being of their communities. When they have access to clean water, they can actively take part in and lead initiatives that enhance the overall living conditions in their communities.
In 2023, we partnered on two new boreholes at schools in Ethiopia’s Amhara Region. In Zambia, we repaired 25 boreholes in the Mkushi District, trained 20 new Area Pump Minders and set up more WASH committees.
You can help us continue our water projects in 2024 by making a donation today. Thank you for your support!
In his own words…
“My name is Chikhale Motiram. I’m 21 years old, and I live in a small village in the Latur district in Maharashtra, India. I have one year of experience in surgical marketing. My father is a farmer, my mother is a house wife and I have four siblings.
I completed the Vision Technician course from Operation Eyesight's partner, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad in January 2019. Thanks to the training I received, I’ve now joined Udayagiri Lions Eye Hospital as a Vision Technician.
I get to see different patients with different eye conditions. When the patients I have examined are given glasses and they go home with a smile on their face – that’s my favourite part about the work I do.
I think the training was very important. It’s helpful to know how to diagnose a patient’s condition to refer them for treatment at the hospital.
I took the refresher training for Vision Technicians/Optometrists. The training covered how to increase the number of patients helped, and to ensure patient satisfaction. Another important aspect of the training was to learn how to communicate with an uncooperative patient.
Thank you so much for making this training available to me. I feel lucky to be helping people through my work.”
It’s thanks to the support of people like you that Chikhale's patients are receiving the quality eye care they need.
You can make it possible for more people like Chikhale to give the gift of sight to their communities with a donation today!
Operation Eyesight’s Community Eye Health Program model sets us apart from other organizations fighting avoidable blindness – because we focus on more than just eye health. While restoring sight and preventing blindness is at the heart of our mission, we can’t simply treat “eye patients” and ignore other health problems.
Targeting eye health alone isn’t enough to eliminate avoidable blindness; if other health care needs aren’t met, there will still be people suffering from vision problems or other conditions. For example, vitamin A deficiency results in preventable childhood blindness, and increases the risk of death from common childhood illnesses such as diarrhea.
With your help, we’re enabling poor communities to lead healthier and more productive lives. Not only do we educate target communities about eye health, but we also address their essential health care needs. Our trained community health workers educate communities about eye health and general health (such as the importance of vitamin A) and create awareness of the eye care services available in or around the community. They also collaborate with health care staff to deliver services such as immunizations.
We’re always proud to report the number of sight-restoring cataract surgeries performed or prescription eyeglasses dispensed, but the pinnacle of our work is the healthy communities that are empowered to lead happy and productive lives. For example, we’ve declared 1,020 villages as avoidable blindness-free. In these villages, mortality rates have dropped significantly and school enrollment rates have increased.
Thanks to YOU, entire communities have been transformed!
There are still thousands of communities that need your help! Please donate today to prevent blindness and restore sight to some of the most vulnerable people in Africa and Asia.
Wow! On June 10 we celebrated the part people like YOU played in transforming hundreds of communities through the gift of sight in 2018. Our Annual Impact Celebration, held in Calgary, was a blast – and YOU made it happen! We had so much to celebrate; just take a look at our Annual Report to SEE how much people like YOU made possible in 2018.
We were especially excited to introduce you to Alice Mwangi, our country manager in Kenya. Alice has been with Operation Eyesight since 2011 and has 15 years’ experience in development work in various areas including eye health, women empowerment, HIV/AIDS and general health. She has a master’s in public health and a post-graduate diploma in planning and management in development projects. She’s also a full-time mom of two teenage daughters.
Those wrinkled feet. That scrunched up button nose. Those tiny little fingers. Their chest, rising and falling. Their soft little eyelids fluttering.
How many times did you just sit there, gazing lovingly at your new baby, watching them sleep, so peacefully, so innocently?
I’m sure you remember the very first moment you laid eyes on your son or daughter. That first glimpse of my precious baby girl is a moment I hope I never forget.
It’s also a moment I’ve reflected on many times. And every time, I’m overwhelmed by a feeling of gratitude.
I’m so grateful that I can SEE my daughter and watch her grow. I see her raise and furrow her eyebrows as she concentrates intently on a new toy. I see her break into a giant smile when I arrive to pick her up from daycare. I see her father reflected in every little expression she makes.
I’m also incredibly grateful that she can SEE me. Sometimes, as I’m rocking with her before bed, she just stares up at me, her beautiful blue eyes piercing my soul. She’ll cradle my cheek in her little hand, just as I’ve done to her many times.
Living in Canada, I know that I’m fortunate to have access to quality health care, and fortunate that eye care is embedded in our health care system. I know all too well that this isn’t the case for millions of people around the world.
One of the very first decisions I had to make as a new mom was whether or not to give my daughter an eye antibiotic to help prevent infection, a routine procedure done right in the hospital after a baby is born. The fact that I even had the option is incredible.
When my daughter was six months old, I excitedly took her to the eye doctor for her first eye exam, which was provided free of cost. When she got her first case of pink eye, I was able to get her a prescription right away. Both times, I felt incredibly lucky to have these services available to me and my family.
Today, my toddler’s (I still can’t believe she’s a toddler already!) favourite accessory is her sunglasses, which she calls her “eyes”. Yes, my girl, you can wear your “eyes” every time we leave the house, as you insist. I’ve been taught how important it is to protect your eyes from the sun, and we’re fortunate to live in a country where we have access to affordable sunglasses and other eyewear.
As Mother’s Day approaches and I reflect on my journey as a new mom, I can’t help but think of the mothers living halfway around the world, suffering from avoidable blindness and trying so desperately to care for their families with limited vision. Many of them don’t know that help is available, or they can’t afford treatment. Often all they need is a simple cataract surgery to restore their sight, their dignity, their hope.
I also think of the moms who are helplessly watching their children suffer from avoidable blindness, worrying what kind of future they’ll have if they can’t see to go to school and someday find employment. Many don’t know that a pair of prescription eyeglasses could transform their child’s life forever.
While it can be easy to be overcome with guilt and sadness as I think of these mothers, I find comfort in knowing this: there is a solution, and I can help.
By supporting Operation Eyesight, I can help these mothers and their children. I can help community health workers screen families for eye health problems and refer patients for care. I can help Operation Eyesight’s partner hospitals provide cataract surgeries, prescription eyeglasses and other treatment free of charge for those in need.
I might never meet the families I am helping, but I know that, as a monthly donor to Operation Eyesight, I’m transforming lives, month after month, year after year.
You can help, too.
This Mother’s Day, I invite you to make a donation in honour of your mother and mothers everywhere. You can even send your mom (or sister, or mother-in-law, or grandma or daughter) a customized eCard when you give a gift in her name.
Every mother has the right to see her child, and every child has the right to see their mother.
Thank you for your support, and Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing moms out there!
