Frontline workers reach remote patients in Africa (Part 1 of 2)

When medical personnel are scarce and rural populations are sparse, it’s time to get creative. Basic eye care is a significant problem in many parts of Africa; in fact, sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest rates of visual impairment and blindness in the world. Poverty, disease and lack of access to eye care all… Continue reading Frontline workers reach remote patients in Africa (Part 1 of 2)

A teacher learns that clear vision is possible again

I met Sister Cecilia Chematia last year at Kenya’s Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in the small city of Eldoret. (Read more about my visit to the hospital here.) Operation Eyesight and its donors have supported the hospital’s eye unit since 2005. A 74-year old Roman Catholic nun from the Kaiboi convent, 50 km outside… Continue reading A teacher learns that clear vision is possible again

A smile worth seeing

Imagine losing your sight. It’s a highly emotional experience, even if the blindness is not trauma-related. With your vision gradually declining due to cataracts or other eye conditions, you’d feel sorrow, uncertainty and anxiety about the future. You’d naturally be apprehensive about eye surgery, yet eager for the possibility to be able to see again.… Continue reading A smile worth seeing

Ongata Naado – a village transformed (Part 1 of 2)

Water is a powerful force. In rivers, it pushes huge generator turbines. In the ocean, it covers most of the earth. From the ground, it changes people’s lives in ways I never would have imagined unless I had seen it with my own eyes. In Kenya, Operation Eyesight has been fighting the terrible trachoma infection… Continue reading Ongata Naado – a village transformed (Part 1 of 2)