“I couldn’t work or even tell people apart unless I recognized their voices, and my wife Pauline had to lead me around our home,” says James, a 70-year-old farmer from Kenya.
James suffered from bilateral cataracts and desperately needed surgery. To get treatment, he’d need to save enough money to cover a trip to Nairobi, two hours away. But how could he save money if he couldn’t see to work?
Then everything changed with the opening of our new unit at nearby Kerugoya County Referral Hospital.
James learned that he could receive cataract surgery there free of charge.
“I was not at any point afraid of surgery,” he says. “In fact, I was among the first patients at the eye unit.”
Thanks to the generosity of people like you, James received surgery on one eye. He can see again!
Today, James is working on his farm and eagerly awaiting his second surgery. In his spare time, he enjoys taking a moment to appreciate the world around him.
“We are always in too much of a hurry to notice our surroundings,” he says. “One thing being blind for three years taught me is to always take time to appreciate the beauty around me.”
Thank you for helping people like James see the world around them again!
Generosity from people like you has already helped thousands in need, but there are still thousands more people like James who need your help. Please donate to give the precious gift of sight today, so that people like James can see tomorrow.
Together, we CAN eliminate avoidable blindness – For All The World To See!
From all of us at Operation Eyesight, we wanted to say THANK YOU again for donating to our GivingTuesday campaign.
It was a great success! We raised $3,770 in total, and that will be doubled by our generous matching donor. And so many kind-hearted people signed up to become Monthly Visionaries, which means together we’ll give the gift of sight to thousands in need year round – for generations to come.
Your gifts help people like Caleb, an eight-year-old boy from Kenya who had to squint out one eye and tilt his head just to see the board at school. But thansk to support from people like you, Caleb's future is bright with possibilities!
Again, thank you so much for your support! You should be incredibly proud of what you’re doing for children, women and men around the world – For All The World To See!
P.S. Looking for Christmas gifts? Check out our eCards. You can send a special gift and personal note to your friend or family member AND give the gift of sight to someone in need. It’s two gifts in one!
When an objective third party tells you that you're making an IMPACT in this world with the highest integrity and transparency, you shout it from the rooftops and thank the donors, supporters, partner hospitals, community health workers, volunteers and staff who are making it possible!
We’re thrilled to have been named one of the Top 10 Impact Charities of 2018 by Charity Intelligence Canada. Just as for-profit organizations have an obligation to their shareholders, we have an obligation to our donors. We invest donor funds carefully and efficiently to create the long-term changes that will help eliminate avoidable blindness.
This recognition is a significant milestone on our shared path to help more people who are needlessly suffering, and to make a generational impact that will ensure the communities we work in will have access to the eye care they need today, tomorrow and in the future.
Charity Intelligence’s impact rating is determined by analyzing the measurable return for every dollar donated. They hold charities accountable for the support they receive from Canadian donors, and they observe that people will generally give more to charities when they are confident their donation will make an impact. Operation Eyesight made the list by eliminating avoidable blindness at the community level, through our Hospital-Based Community Eye Health Program model.
When assessing our impact, we look at how well we are meeting our strategic goals. We look at the number of patients treated, how much local capacity is being built and how well our hospital partners are progressing towards operational sustainability.
We create eye health-seeking behaviour in the communities we work in through outreach and education programs, and we empower communities to take responsibility for their eye health needs. This plays a vital role in helping to ensure our projects are sustainable and that people will continue to seek help even after our formal partnership with the hospital has ended.
The ripple effect is incredible! Kids can see to read and go to school, giving them the opportunity to get an education and later find a job and provide for themselves. Parents can return to work and provide for their families. Grandparents can watch their grandkids grow up, and their grandkids don’t need to stay home to care for them. This way, children can get an education and thrive in the future. Entire communities are transformed with the gift of sight!
We can’t thank our donors enough for supporting our sight-saving program model. Thanks to people like you, we’ve declared over 1,000 villages avoidable blindness-free in India and Nepal. And we’re not done yet! We’ve had great success in the communities we work in, but there are still millions of people who need our help. With your help, we can reach them – For All The World To See!
Click here to donate and make an IMPACT.
In Ghana, we were honoured to work with many partners in 2017. Together with Ghana Health Services, Standard Chartered Bank, Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons and Swiss Red Cross, we communicated the results of the National Blindness and Visual Impairment study — the first of its kind in the country. We’re excited about this study because it provides concrete data that we can use to advocate for eye health care.
We implemented our eye health care model for the first time in Mfantseman Municipal District in Ghana’s Central Region last fall. So far, we’ve completed door-to-door eye health surveys in 20 communities in the Abeadze Dominase Sub-District.
We also launched the Ophthalmic Nursing School Project. Working with Standard Chartered Bank, this project promises to strengthen ophthalmic nursing in Ghana. The program will launch at Ghana’s only Ophthalmic Nursing School in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra. We aim to elevate the nursing training program from diploma to degree level.
With our partners we’ll develop a new nursing curriculum. The project will establish links between three ophthalmic nursing schools in Ghana and the United Kingdom. Thanks to our donor investment this project promises to increase the quality of eye care in the country.
We’re also pleased to announce the successful completion of another project with partner Standard Chartered Bank. The five-year project spanned 35 districts over 10 regions in Ghana, and included 35 district hospitals.
During this project, we equipped 18 partner hospitals with eye care equipment. Our project awareness campaigns covered 75 percent of the area’s population. We achieved an outstanding 300 percent increase of patients accessing and receiving eye care.
Thank you, you’ve helped us make real progress in eliminating avoidable blindness.
