We all believe and say, 'Seeing is believing.' I personally hold this belief dear and often repeat it, as it resonates deeply with me. As the President and CEO of Operation Eyesight Universal, one of my roles is to help our growing global community to see how our collective actions and partnerships – as employees and volunteers, as donors and partner organizations, as governments and communities – are transforming our vision of eliminating avoidable vision loss into a reality, community by community.
When I travel to our countries of work and to the target villages, I see that eye health is about far more than sight. I have learnt that eye health is about children being able to learn, play at school and practice hygiene. It is about adults being able to work and run businesses, access clean water, herd animals, grow crops and care for children. It is about seniors who can meet their friends, travel and chase after their grandchildren. Eye health is about reaching everyone in a community, addressing all the avoidable vision loss issues and empowering the community to take care of their eye health themselves. Often, this is the impact of partnerships between organizations and governments, hospitals and communities with a shared vision to improve quality of life. Actually, health and partnerships are so important that they have been identified in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN) as necessary for a peaceful and prosperous world.
This June, I am attending the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) global event, 2030 IN SIGHT LIVE in Mexico. (See above for a photo of my eye health peers and I at last year’s event.) As an elected IAPB board member and someone who has been leading health and eye health care programmes for more than 35 years, I will join hands with fellow experts and organizations in the eye health sector to apply our collective knowledge to address:
1. What needs to be done to transform the vision of universal eye care into a global reality by 2030?
2. What ground-breaking approaches will accelerate action and transform eye health?
3. What steps can we take to embed conscious, inclusive and sustainable best practices across the eye health sector?
4. What can we do to harness our strengths and diverse skills to increase momentum together to empower change?
5. To address diverse needs and shape the future of eye health, how can we meet the rising demand and changing landscapes with strategic sustainable solutions?
My experience has shown me that a key part of the answer to all these questions lies in the power of partnerships. By working together, we can build sustainable strategies that connect international agencies, national governments, hospitals, and health care workers, and extend right down into the communities and each person there.
Partnerships at the strategic, implementational and program levels will ensure that multiple players can focus on their strengths – from sharing eye health care data with international agencies that set global goals, to working with national governments to include eye health in health care and education policies, to supporting hospitals and training health care workers who treat vision issues, to empowering communities to identify and address vision problems for everyone who lives there. Through partnerships, we stand together so we have more visibility. We have more influence and more funding. We have more technical expertise, and we have more community connections.
Over more than 60 years, Operation Eyesight has developed a sustainable model of community empowerment. I take great pride in our flagship model, which is not only sustainable but also scalable. This model serves as evidence to the successful implementation of the World Health Organization's five recommendations outlined in its World Report on Vision 2019: making eye care a part of universal health care, integrating people-centred eye care into health systems, promoting high-quality implementation and health systems research that compliments evidence for effective eye health care interventions, monitoring trends and evaluating progress for effective eye care interventions, and raising awareness, engaging and empowering people and communities about eye care needs. I attribute the success of this model to our dedicated partners and the communities we serve.
When we partner with others, we become the bridge between health care services and communities. While many organizations work down to the hospital level, we start with the hospital and work down to the community level where we reach all those individuals who are in need of eye care. With the hospital, we identify a service area and build a local vision centre. Next, we train local community health care workers in the community. In our nine countries of work, our network of more than 2,500 community health care workers conduct door-to-door surveys, knocking on doors and identifying people with vision challenges. These workers then refer people to the vision centre for eye exams and prescription eyeglasses or treatment for eye diseases. Those with issues that require services beyond the vision centre, such as cataract, are referred to the local hospital for surgery. Once all avoidable vision loss cases are addressed, the community is declared avoidable blindness-free. The community can then sustain this as they now have ownership of their own eye health care.
Time and time again we have seen this model work. We are publishing research on the results, investing in resources to replicate it, and harnessing partnerships to bring this model to new communities and new countries of work.
In Mexico City, I plan to reconnect with current partners and meet new partners. I will learn from them about their perspectives on the five key questions IAPB is asking and share my views with them. Additionally, I will discuss what more Operation Eyesight can do to further strengthen our partnerships and chart a future course that allows us to collectively reach out to many more individuals and communities. I look forward to seeing so many global community members in Mexico City and to working together to answer the five IAPB questions. I believe that together, we have the power to transform eye health care – For All The World To See.
Join our global community, partner with us and we will transform more lives together.
I was recently in Kenya and Zambia, where I saw first hand the impact we are having, together.
In Kenya, I attended the grand opening event for the new operation theatre at Iten County Referral Hospital’s Eye Unit in Elgeyo Marakwet County. The facility’s design and construction meet international standards and will offer access to comprehensive eye examinations and treatment, diagnoses, specialist referral and surgery to more people than ever before. With our government partners and community members by our side, it was a powerful reminder of what these lifechanging eye health services mean to residents.
I then travelled to Zambia, where I attended the opening of a new vision centre in Kapiri Mposhi district. I also attended kickoff celebrations for the construction of the new Eye Unit at Kanyama General Hospital, where we are supporting both infrastructure development and staff training.
Brick and mortar facilities are just pieces of a much larger puzzle. Many people had to come together to make these events possible – from the community health volunteers who bring eye health care to people’s front doors, to the teams training healthcare staff in primary eye care, to the frontline staff providing care, to the community members who are adopting eye-healthy behaviours and seeking care when they need it. It truly is a team effort, and it was inspiring to see our global community come together.
For six decades, donors like you have been a key part of our global community and have helped projects like these come alive.
The communities and partners I visited used different languages, but the message was the same: thank you! It speaks to the lives that we are transforming, together.
The holidays are quickly approaching, and I know many of you are looking forward to gathering with loved ones for caroling, games and of course, turkey dinner.
Although turkey dinner isn’t a tradition in my family (I eat what turkeys eat, grass and grains), after hearing a recent story shared by the Jenkyns family, any mention of turkey dinner will forever remind me of Art Jenkyns, the founder of Operation Eyesight.
Not only did Art cherish the holidays, but being the resourceful scout that he was, he loved a good turkey bag.
Back in the 1960s, Art, his wife, Una, their five children – Arleigh, Bill, Jim, Linda and Tom – and the family dog, Cookie, would pile into their Chevy sedan and set out for a three-week camping adventure in the mountains. With space being limited, Art ensured that everything was well-organized and nicely packed in the trunk or under a canvas cover on the car’s rooftop. Each child was given one bag to pack their belongings in – and, you guessed it, it was a turkey bag.
“These camping trips are some of our fondest memories,” say the Jenkyns children, now parents and grandparents themselves. “Dad was an incredible leader, whether it was organizing our campsite and teaching us how to set up our 9x9 tent or running Operation Eyesight and inspiring others to support a cause that was so close to his heart.”
While he kept very busy with his ‘day job’ at a local insurance broker and his ‘evening job’ doing work for Operation Eyesight, Art always made time for his family and friends. He was the kind of man who took genuine interest in others. When he spoke to you, it was as if you were the only person in the room. Even today, our supporters speak warmly of the time they met Art when he made a presentation to their church or club. They might have only had a few minutes with Art, but the impression he made and the passion he ignited in them has lasted a lifetime.
I never had the privilege of meeting Art but, having seen the impact of his legacy firsthand from South Asia to sub-Saharan Africa to Canada and beyond, I can say that he was truly a visionary. He was committed to providing quality eye health services to everyone, regardless of their financial circumstances, and he was dedicated to finding local solutions to local problems, promoting the goal of sustainable development. The fact the Operation Eyesight will soon be celebrating its 60th anniversary proves this.
The facilities that Operation Eyesight helped to establish during Art’s lifetime continue to deliver critical services today. Whenever I visit our old partner hospitals, I am filled with a sense of gratitude toward Art. I see his photo proudly displayed on waiting room walls, and retired physicians share many wonderful stories with me.
The Jenkyns children say that Art never imagined that, nearly six decades later, the organization he founded would still be in existence. Yet today, Operation Eyesight is the biggest and most impactful it has ever been. Art’s legacy lives on with every pair of eyeglasses given to a child, with every cataract surgery provided to a parent or grandparent, and with every supporter who reminisces about the time they met an incredible man named Art Jenkyns.
Thank you to our donors and partners who brought Art’s vision to life all those years ago, and to those who continue to carry out his legacy today – For All The World To See.
Best wishes for a joyful, healthy holiday season. And if you’ll be enjoying a turkey dinner this year, I hope the turkey bag reminds you of Art, his legacy and the life-changing impact of your generosity.
Two years ago, as a tribute to Art and Una, the Jenkyns family rekindled the Art and Una Jenkyns Legacy Fund, which will be used to create an endowment fund that will continue the Jenkyns legacy for years to come. Those interested can contribute to the Fund here.
Each year at this time I am transported back to a time that the Gift of Sight changed the life of a young girl I encountered in Northern India…
It was about a decade ago and I was visiting a school as part of my work with Operation Eyesight. The room was loud – full of the sound of children’s laughter and small, yet confident, voices. I stood at the front of the class and asked questions of India’s next generation of Ieaders. What did they know about taking care of their eyes? What did they know about India? When I asked who the current President was there was an uproar in the class, as each child jumped out of their seat, hand up, shouting. The headteacher and I nodded in approval and applauded the unanimous response.
I carried on and asked who the current Vice President was, but this time the room fell silent. As I was opening my mouth to say the answer, a loud voice bellowed through the classroom, but it wasn’t from any of the students… “Mohammad Hamid Ansari!” the voice beckoned. The students glanced around the room, curious to know which of their peers had remembered the answer, but this time no hands were raised. The answer had come from outside, which I didn’t think much of at the time. A parent had probably been listening in and shouted the answer.
Asking the children their aspirations in life prompted the standard answers – teacher, accountant, police officer, Vice President of India. “Vice President of India!” I exclaimed, “That’s a big job, but if anyone can manage that, it’s you. Why do you want to be the Vice President?” I asked. “Because that’s the only position available!” the boy responded, eliciting laughter from the whole room.
As I was leaving the school, I noticed a young girl washing dishes by the side of the building. I felt drawn to her, as if we were meant to meet. “Did I get it right?” she asked. It was then I realized it had been her who yelled into the classroom.
I asked why she was not in school. Her eyes didn’t work like the other kids’, she explained, so her parents withdrew her and instead she stayed home and helped with chores.
I was immensely saddened by her story and became determined to help. I visited the girl’s family, explained my role at Operation Eyesight and directed her and her father to one of our partner hospitals where she received a complimentary eye exam and a pair of glasses. When I followed up with the hospital, I was told that the moment this girl put her glasses on, she began smiling, laughing, and talking about returning to school immediately.
This young girl’s story inspired not only me, but others in the area as well, demonstrating that they, too, can and deserve to have the Gift of Sight and the positive outcomes it can bring – pride, the ability to learn and work, and the possibility of achieving whatever they can dream.
Although I do not know where this little girl ended up, I know she learned that her voice gave her the power to overcome obstacles and live up to her true potential as the intelligent and deserving person she is – in the classroom and beyond. And who knows? Maybe she will become the next Vice President of India.
There are still many other children and families in need of the Gift of Sight. I invite you to help more kids achieve their potential by giving the Gift of Sight in the name of a loved one this holiday season.
Jane is a 75-year-old widow and mother of four sons. She lives in Murubara village in Kirinyaga, Kenya, supporting her children through bean and tomato farming.
One day, two community health volunteers (CHVs), Naomi and John, were conducting a door-to-door eye screening in the area. They came knocking on Jane’s door, and as luck would have it, their timing couldn’t have been better. They screened Jane’s eyes and learned she couldn’t see.
Although she had long noticed her failing eyesight, Jane hadn’t given it much importance. After all, she figured her fading eyesight was just a part of getting older.
Despite the CHVs’ advice and referral to seek medical attention at the eye clinic, Jane was reluctant. Sadly, three months later, she lost her sight entirely to cataracts in both her eyes.
She became dependent on her family for everything, and she could no longer see to read the lyrics to hymns at church. Jane was heartbroken.
“After my mother lost her sight, it was hard for us because we had to always make sure someone stayed at home to look after her and hold her hand to lead her wherever she wanted to go,” says Jane’s daughter-in-law, Faith.
Desperate for a solution, Jane’s family decided to consult Naomi, one of the community health volunteers who had screened her. Naomi encouraged them to take Jane to seek treatment at our partner, Kerugoya Eye Unit. Naomi assured Jane that it was possible for her to regain her sight through surgery.
Jane was still reluctant at first. She lives with high blood pressure and feared that, because of her age, she might not survive surgery. Naomi counselled her, explaining the nature of the surgery.
Jane finally chose to seek treatment and had surgery on her right eye in November 2018. It was just as Naomi had said – she could see again!
She was overjoyed, saying, “I can now walk on my own, and I can continue singing in my church choir!”
With her sight restored in her right eye, Jane was able to regain her independence and once again do her daily chores on her own. Shortly after, in December 2018, she received surgery on her left eye and, just like that, she had her sight restored in both eyes!
Her family is also grateful. Now they don’t have to worry about their mother.
“We are happy we can now go to work on the farm knowing that mum can take care of herself. It’s so liberating,” says Jane’s son, Daniel.
Jane is so grateful for the work Operation eyesight is doing in her village through our Hospital-Based Community Eye Health Project.
“Many villagers are happy about this project because it has literally opened their eyes,” Jane says. “Many had eye problems, but now they have been treated.”
Jane is now an eye health ambassador in her community, and the community health volunteers seek her help when they need to encourage a fearful cataract patient to go for treatment.
You’ve made it possible for thousands of women like Jane to receive sight-restoring treatment, but there are still thousands more who need your help. Please make a donation today to and give more women the gift of sight!
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.
