A life threatened by trachoma was saved, thanks to your support!

Written by Admin, published on March 20, 2018 Give the Gift of Sight

Nadupoi is the second eldest daughter in her family, and she has four siblings. She lives with her family in a small village in Narok County, Kenya. Her parents make a living as cattle farmers.

Nadupoi (middle) standing with her mother (right) and William (left), the Community Health Volunteer who diagnosed her condition.

Nadupoi’s right eye wouldn’t stop tearing up. It was like she was crying all the time, even though she wasn’t. It hurt badly for so long. She could barely stand to open her eye.

Even so, there wasn’t much Nadupoi could do. Her younger siblings looked up to her, and her mother depended on her help every day around the house, and to fetch water for the family at the community borehole which was within walking distance. The borehole was a great improvement on how things used to be in Nadupoi’s village, and she was glad for it. Especially now with her painful eye infection.

A few years ago, Nadupoi, her mother and her sister had to walk to the river, three kilometers away, to fetch water. But in 2009, Operation Eyesight worked with government partners to have a borehole developed for their community. She was grateful for the easy access to clean and accessible water… but she still wished her eye would stop hurting.

Not only that, Nadupoi also had school to worry about. With her eye always watering, her classmates nicknamed her “Cry Baby.”

It was awful. There wasn’t any part of her life that wasn’t affected by the pain. Even her favourite hobby was affected. Nadupoi loved football. She loved to play with her friends, and she was very good at it. But one day she had to stop when going outside proved excruciating for her.

She had to stop playing and go home.

Nadupoi’s family was terribly concerned.

“We’ll take you to the local doctor and get you treated,” her mother told her.

The doctor who saw her prescribed allergy medication, and it did help ease the burning a little. For a minute or two. But it wasn’t long before the searing pain in her eye flared back up to take over her life each time.

It was too much. Nadupoi couldn’t do anything without being in great pain anymore. She gave up. She stopped going to school, and she stopped leaving the house.

Her parents didn’t know what to do. The medication wasn’t helping, and seeing their daughter’s condition worsen made them fear for her future.

“I fear someone has put a curse on our daughter,” Nadupoi heard her mother tell her father one evening. “What more can we do but be here for her when she becomes blind? None of the medication has worked…”

Kenyan mother and daughter on their farm with dog.
Nadupoi and her mother walking around their farm with their dog in tow.

One day, Nadupoi’s aunt told her that a community health volunteer trained by Operation Eyesight had come to their village to announce there would be an eye camp happening soon. Her aunt told Nadupoi she should go there, that when she had trouble with her eyes, she had received help, and maybe Nadupoi could be helped too.

She really hoped so.

The day of the eye camp finally came, and Nadupoi braved the excruciating pain in her eye to go to the screening, hoping against hope that she would finally get some good news. The eye health volunteer examined her eyes, and it didn’t take very long for her to tell Nadupoi that she had a disease called “trachoma,” which she explained was a bacterial eye infection that caused the lashes to turn inwards and scrape mercilessly against her eyeball.

“You’re lucky,” The volunteer told her, smiling. “Your sight can still be saved with surgery.”

Nadupoi’s mother was worried about the cost, but the volunteer reassured her, saying that the costs would be covered by Operation Eyesight and their partner, the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust.

“Are they going to take out my eyes to cure me?” Nadupoi asked the volunteer, afraid.

The volunteer laughed. “No, of course not! Your eyes will be staying snug in your head. Don’t you worry.”

Soon after, Nadupoi received surgery at Operation Eyesight’s partner hospital, the Mararianda dispensary in Narok County.

Nadupoi (right) and her mother standing side by side, smiling happily.

“I feel like a hero with this eye patch on!” Nadupoi exclaimed to her mother on the ride home after receiving her surgery.

Time has passed since then, and today Nadupoi can see again. Her eye doesn’t cause her pain, and her life has returned to normal. She can go back to school, and she hopes to study to become a doctor like the ones who treated her one day!

She’s also become an advocate for eye health at home. She washes her face daily with clean water and soap and ensures her siblings do the same.

“Trachoma is easy to prevent if we keep our faces and environment clean,” Nadupoi tells her siblings. “And don’t forget to take the trachoma antibiotics whenever they are distributed at school!”

Nadupoi says she’ll be forever grateful for having her sight restored. “I’d like to give thanks to God and the doctors for diagnosing me correctly and giving me proper treatment. I would also like to thank the community health volunteer for visiting us at home and making sure I recovered well. And of course, thank you to Operation Eyesight and your donors for the financial support! If it were not for you, I guess I’d be blind by now. I’m so happy I can go back to living my life like normal!

It’s amazing what access to eye health care and clean water can do, isn’t it? If you’re lucky, you’re like me and don’t have to think twice about where to get your eyes treated, and if you need clean water it’s just a few steps away to the nearest tap for you. But for young girls like Nadupoi living in Kenya, these amenities are scarce and a blessing. The support of people like you saved Nadupoi’s sight, and with your help, we can save many more suffering from trachoma. Donate to our trachoma program today and give the Gift of Sight… For All The World To See!