Category: Avoidable Blindness-free Villages

Sharing her love of bead work

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… Continue reading Sharing her love of bead work

Q&A with Governor of Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya 

Operation Eyesight President & CEO Kashinath Bhoosnurmath was honoured to receive a rungu, a traditional symbol of leadership from among the Kalenjin community, from His Excellency Wisley Rotich, the Governor of Elgeyo-Marakwet County. Without the government’s partnership, these projects wouldn’t be possible.

The March 2023 opening of the new operation theatre at the eye unit at Iten County Referral Hospital in Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya was a milestone for the entire community, bringing patients living in surrounding areas more access to advanced eye health care than ever before.   It was made possible through partnership between Operation Eyesight and… Continue reading Q&A with Governor of Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya 

Sustainable impact through community partnership

Through our unique approach, known as our Hospital-Based Community Eye Health Program model, we declared 51 communities or villages across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia as Avoidable Blindness-Free in 2022, including villages like Asafora, in Ghana. We work with community leaders and healthcare workers to ensure that the community supports and takes ownership of the process.

Asafora is like many other small villages in central Ghana; its several hundred residents are mostly farmers growing cassava and plantain, and many community members have faced barriers to accessing eye health care. What sets this community apart? It is the first village in the country we declared Avoidable Blindness-Free. The December 2022 declaration event… Continue reading Sustainable impact through community partnership

20 new villages declared Avoidable Blindness-Free in Kenya

The last few months of 2022 were busy ones for Caroline Ikumu, our program manager in Kenya (pictured above at far right). She spent much of that time on the road, travelling to visit our projects in Elgeyo Marakwet County. But she isn’t complaining. The cause of all this busyness was one to celebrate. Between October… Continue reading 20 new villages declared Avoidable Blindness-Free in Kenya