While most Canadian schoolkids would have a hard time finding Ghana on a map, the West African country truly came to life for donor Sharon Margison when she was 10 years old. That year, her mother, then president of the Toronto YWCA, developed a close friendship with a young Ghanaian woman named Sika (also known as Barbara) who had come to Canada to study. Sharon’s mother encouraged her daughter to think of Barbara as a big sister, and that relationship continues today, more than 60 years later.
In 1982, Sharon and her mother travelled to Ghana to meet up with their old friend. During that visit, they were made family members.
“I just always found the people very welcoming,” Sharon says. “I really enjoyed talking with people and learning about their experiences.”
When Sharon heard that we were launching a new campaign to raise funds to screen 23,000 schoolkids in Ghana for eye conditions, her interest was piqued. Beyond her personal connection to the country, Sharon had another reason for taking interest in child eye health – she too has struggled with refractive error since she was in grade school.
“I’ve been wearing eyeglasses since I was nine years old,” she says, “and I studied visual arts during my undergraduate degree. So, vision is a huge thing for me.”
Sharon has generously decided to make a $10,000 contribution towards our Ghana School Eye Health project. She says that as a longtime donor, she has confidence in Operation Eyesight’s approach to community eye health.
“I like the fact that Operation Eyesight contributes to things like cataract surgery and also the delivery of education around good healthcare practices to avoid blindness and eye diseases,” she says, adding, “I also like how it trains locals to go out and educate people in their own communities.”
We are so grateful to Sharon for kicking off our Ghana School Eye Health campaign with her donation. We invite you to join her in transforming young lives!
For Venkatamma in Karnataka, India, one of the most astounding things about getting her vision back is being able to keep track of time again.
“You can’t imagine what it’s like to look at the clock in the morning,” the 65-year-old grandmother says with a laugh, “and to be able to tell the time!”
Seeing clearly was something Venkatamma had been missing for many years. Her vision, always poor, took a turn for the worse when she was in her fifties. By the time she was diagnosed with cataracts, she could barely make out shapes or colours.
Venkatamma’s cataracts were first diagnosed by a community health volunteer who was doing a door-to-door eye health survey in her village. Initially, she was resistant to the idea of getting surgery as she worried that the financial burden would be too great for her family. But after she learned that the operations would be performed free of charge, she decided to go ahead with surgery.
Venkatamma was thrilled with the transformation. “It was like being reborn,” she says. “I can look outside and see a couple hundred feet away, from leaves on the tree to birds’ nests.”
Now that she can see clearly, Venkatamma is happy that she can spend quality time with her grandchildren and help around the house once again.
Please donate today so that more grandmothers like Venkatamma can regain their independence!
Eight-year-old Richmond, who lives in Ajumako Ashiem, Ghana, enjoys playing outside, just like any other boy his age. But until recently, things were much harder for the primary school student.
Before getting cataract surgery, Richmond had a hard time seeing clearly and missed a lot of school because of fatigue caused by eye strain. His parents said he was listless and spent a lot of time inside the house. Fortunately for young Richmond, help was on the way.
His school was one of dozens in the area included in a school eye health program that we are implementing in partnership with Ghana Health Service and Ghana Education Service. A visiting optometrist quickly diagnosed Richmond with a cataract, and he was referred for surgery at St. Barnabas Family Clinic in Greater Accra, where he was treated free of charge, thanks to the generosity of donors like you.
Dora Ruth Assan is the School Health Education Programs Coordinator for Richmond’s district. She says she hears a lot of stories about children who are transformed by eye care. “A lot of them, because they were having challenges with their sight, they were not happy to be at school. When there’s outdoor games, they don’t participate,” says Assan. “But now, because they were screened, and they realized they are having challenges, they were educated on what to do.” She adds that school enrolment has improved overall since they introduced school eye health screenings.
As for young Richmond, he is just happy to be attending school regularly and playing with his friends once again. His parents say they are grateful for the help he received.
Please donate today to help provide eye health care services for more children like Richmond. Thank you for your support!
Longtime donor Jonathan Huyer says the simplicity of our approach was what attracted him to Operation Eyesight’s work.
“I'm looking for the unsung heroes,” he says. “The ones that are quietly working away and making a massive difference, largely in places that we would never see firsthand. And yet the impact that they make is profound.”
The retired Calgary engineer, who now lives in Canmore, AB, first heard about Operation Eyesight 30 years ago, when an employee made a presentation about our work at his church. After learning more about our projects, Jonathan decided to get involved. He’s been donating ever since.
As a wildlife photography enthusiast, Jonathan, along with his wife Karen Booth, has travelled all over the globe. He says that visiting low- and middle-income countries, including some of those where we work, has helped them both develop a perspective on what life is like in struggling communities.
When the couple decided to pare down the list of charities they donate to, Jonathan said Operation Eyesight made the cut because of how far his donation dollars go.
“You're taking someone who is wholly dependent on others for their day-to-day living, and through a simple operation or treatment, you can turn them back into providers for that same household,” he says. “It's the economic well-being of their whole family.”
Thank you, Jonathan and Karen, for your longtime support! We simply could not do our work without the generosity of donors like you.
Mark your calendars – we’re getting ready for another frenzy of activity during this year’s World Sight Day, coming up on October 10.
The annual awareness day, spearheaded by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, is a chance to focus the world’s attention on the importance of eye health, and to inspire people to take care of their eyes. And it’s more than just a day – we have a full week of festivities planned!
This year’s campaign will have a special focus on child eye health, complete with a new World Sight Day mascot, Artie. We can’t wait to share some Artie-themed, kid-friendly materials that you can enjoy with your children and grandkids. Stay tuned to our webpage: operationeyesight.com/worldsightday
You can look forward to pictures and stories about Avoidable Blindness-Free village declarations, parades, community eye screenings and more. We also plan to deliver new prescription eyeglasses to hundreds of schoolkids in Ghana that week – and we’ll be on site to capture the magic, so you can share in their excitement.
Follow us on social media for updates in real time or check your email inbox just after Thanksgiving for a round up of the events. Be sure to subscribe for our eNews so you don’t miss an update: operationeyesight.com/subscribe
For the past three decades, 68-year-old Meleniah has enjoyed doing bead work, a hobby she says brings her comfort. She lives with her husband in Chepaktet, a village in Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya, where she raises tree seedlings for a living. She supplements her income by selling her bead work.
When she was forced to put away her needle and thread due to poor eyesight, Meleniah thought her heart might break. She says she felt a lot of stress when she could no longer see to thread a needle, but she didn’t tell anyone about her eye problems because she worried one of her family members would quit work to take care of her. Besides, she figured her poor vision was simply a result of old age.
Eventually, Meleniah’s husband, having previously undergone cataract surgery himself, realized what was going on. He invited one of their granddaughters into the home to help with cooking and housework.
When a community health promoter arrived on their doorstep in January, Meleniah was assessed and told she too had cataracts. They referred her to our partner, the Iten County Referral Hospital, where she was diagnosed and underwent cataract surgery on both eyes. The treatment was provided free of charge, as had her husband’s operations, thanks to the generosity of our donors.
Meleniah recovered quickly, and soon she was back at it – beading late into the night, thrilled she could do the delicate needlework once again.
When Meleniah’s village was declared as Avoidable-Blindness Free, she was there to tell her story and to encourage everyone to seek treatment when they have eye problems.
Always the saleswoman, Meleniah had another motivation for speaking out that day. She brought along some of her fancy work and set up a table, happily selling her beaded gourds, bracelets, necklaces and keychains to neighbours attending the event.
Meleniah is grateful to donors like you for helping to bring the joy of beading back into her life!
Get out your markers, glitter and bedazzlers – it’s time to decorate your own World Sight Day glasses! We hope that you will download, print and decorate a pair of the heart-shaped glasses below and become our newest eye health ambassador.
Note: The glasses will work best if you print them on cardstock. Don't have a printer? Call us at 403-283-6323 or email us at info@operationeyesight.com and we can mail you a pair!
What are we asking you to do?
✔️ Take a picture of yourself wearing the glasses and share it on social media (or ask a friend or family member to help you). Tag us and tell us why you love your eyes and how you take care of your own eye health. Use the hashtags #LoveYourEyes #WorldSightDay and #OperationEyesight.
✔️ Make a pledge to get your eyes (and your kids’ or grandkids’ eyes) examined this year, and share about it on social media, encouraging people to do the same.
✔️ Wear your amazing heart-shaped glasses around your friends and family, and when they ask about them, you can tell them all about World Sight Day and the importance of taking care of their eye health!
People from all over the world will be joining in on the fun this World Sight Day – October 10. We can’t wait to see your specs!
All his life, Kamal has worked as a farmer. He raised two boys on money he earned working the land, and even now, at age 69, he continues to farm. But in recent years, he struggled with the work because of his failing vision.
Kamal lives alone with his wife in Auraha, a village in Nepal’s southern lowlands. His youngest son passed away due to illness, and his eldest moved out to start his own family. Due to financial difficulties, Kamal had never gotten an eye exam until recently, despite his poor eyesight.
Happily for Kamal, his village is covered under a community eye health project that we are running in collaboration with the Nepal Eye Hospital, our partner in Kathmandu. A community health worker visited his home and quickly noted that Kamal had cataracts in both eyes. The health worker encouraged Kamal to visit the nearby vision centre for a formal diagnosis.
At the vision centre, Kamal’s cataracts were confirmed. In his right eye, he was reduced to Hand Motion vision, meaning he could not even count someone’s fingers, but could only detect a hand waving in front of his face.
After being reassured that he would receive treatment free of charge, Kamal decided to go ahead with the cataract surgeries.
He recovered well from both operations, and as he was still nearsighted, he also received a pair of prescription eyeglasses.
Now, Kamal proudly sports his eyeglasses every day. He says he is grateful to the team from the Nepal Eye Hospital for taking on the role of his absent son – providing emotional and logistical support throughout the process. He is also very thankful to Operation Eyesight donors for making his sight-saving surgery possible.
Thank you to all our donors for helping Kamal regain his sight!
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!
Garage sales, bake sales and bottle collecting – these are just some of the ways that Gwendolen Crowe, and her husband John, raised money for Operation Eyesight during their many years as donors.
Although both are no longer with us, their legacy of giving continues today. When Gwendolen passed in 2020, she left our organization a generous gift in her will. It was a decision she and John, who passed away in 2019, had thoughtfully made together.
Born in Leicester in the United Kingdom in 1931, Gwendolen (or Gwen, to her friends) was known for her lively spirit and love of performing. She and John moved to Canada in 1957, settling in Vancouver where she became a mainstay in the area’s theatre scene, acting, singing and directing for various theatre companies, all while working full time at CIBC and later at the BC Children’s Hospital. One of her favourite roles was dressing up as Mrs. Claus, with John playing Santa, for the kids at Vancouver’s Ronald McDonald House.
“She liked to laugh, she liked to bring joy to people,” says Gwen’s close friend, Jane Marynowski. “And I think this whole thing about her charities that she was so attached to, was she knew she was bringing joy to other people’s lives. That was important to her.”
In her late sixties, Gwen took a trip to India to see some of our projects in person. She travelled with Marilyn Gullison, daughter of Dr. Ben Gullison, whose work in India inspired our founder Art Jenkyns to start Operation Eyesight.
Although she was already a world traveller, the trip had a profound effect on Gwen.
“I think she found travelling in India to be a little different than her usual travels,” says Jane, who heard a lot of stories about that trip from Gwen, even decades later. “I think that really strengthened this attitude of gratefulness that she had. What she saw over there really did have an impact.”
Today, Gwen and John continue to make their own impact on people across the globe with their generous final gift, which will help us prevent blindness and restore sight for years to come. We are grateful to Gwen and John for their thoughtful, loyal support over the years!
Have you ever considered making a donation in your will? Learn more about Legacy Giving.