At Operation Eyesight, we work to prevent blindness and restore sight in 8 countries, including Ghana.
Here, we’ve helped more than 1.5 million people experiencing blindness or severe vision loss by partnering with government hospitals and other NGOs.
But help is only possible when families are aware of the services available to them…
Single mother Mary and her daughters Hannah, 10, and Lydia, 7, live together in Ghana in a modest plywood home. Due to the urgency of keeping her children safe from an abusive father, Mary didn’t recognize her daughters’ vision issues for quite some time.
Thankfully, her husband was eventually arrested and she and her daughters were finally safe, but Mary was left to care for the whole family with the sole financial support of her lime selling business.
No longer in danger, Mary noticed that Hannah and Lydia had a hard time seeing. They brought objects close to their faces to identify them, and teachers noticed their difficulty reading and the extra time it took each girl to complete simple tasks. Mary could not afford to take her daughters to see a doctor and sought help from several herbalists to no avail.
“Nothing was working, and I was worried that my children would live all their lives without having a proper view of the world,” Mary explains.
Mary had all but lost hope for her daughters when she noticed a sign for Watborg Eye Services, a secondary eye health facility we established. She took Hannah and Lydia there, and they were each diagnosed with bilateral cataracts and then promptly received surgery – at no cost to them, thanks to generous donors like you.
The two girls also needed prescription glasses, so they each picked out a pair and now wear them proudly at school, reading and writing with ease.
Mary is very grateful to Operation Eyesight and the staff at Watborg Eye Services. “I am now very confident that my children will have a better future,” says Mary. The two girls are also confident in their futures. “Since I can read well now, I know I will become the teacher I have always wished to be,” says Lydia. And for Hannah? “I will become a pilot,” she says.
Our unique approach empowers underserved communities in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa to address eye health care and, by consequence, whole person health care.
With your help, we can reach more families like Mary’s, in Ghana and in our other countries of work. We can ensure facilities are well known and easily accessible. With your support, we can transform lives and give children the opportunity to see a brighter future.
