My recent visit to Uttarakhand, India, was an eyeopening experience, showcasing the profound impact of our projects. In January, I joined a team from our partner institute, the Vivekananda Netralaya Super Specialty Charitable Eye Hospital, during a community outreach exercise in the rugged terrain of Rudraprayag, where many villages are accessible only via steep, challenging footpaths.

What touched me most was witnessing elderly men and women blessing our community health volunteers with heartfelt wishes for good health and long life. It’s moments like these that remind us of the true essence of service – not just reaching but becoming a part of the community.

Since 2021, our team has tirelessly brought eye care to the doorsteps of those in the area. Whether braving freezing winters, scorching summers, relentless rains or storms, their commitment has never wavered.

Mountains may test our resolve, but they also teach us resilience and purpose. My sincere appreciation to the entire team for their steadfast dedication to transforming lives in these challenging conditions.

Emmanuel joined our team in India in 2021. As a Program Manager, he oversees programs in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, often joining teams in the field to check in with partners and monitor projects. He has a Master of Social Work and has been working in the development sector for 15 years. He lives in Shillong, Meghalaya with his wife and two sons.

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Aly Bandali, our President & CEO, met her at one of our boreholes, where she was fetching water for her family, carrying her grandchild on her back in a large scarf.

She told Aly her story. She had lost her sight in both eyes due to cataract. When we came to her village to drill a borehole and create access to eye care, a community health worker met her and referred her to the hospital for sight-restoring surgery. But Musokwe was too afraid to go through with it.

Of course, the community health worker didn’t give up. She counselled Musokwe day after day, encouraging her to go for surgery and explaining to her how the process would work. At last, Musokwe agreed to the treatment.

And thanks to the support of incredible people like YOU, she has her sight back!

When Aly asked her if she was happy to be able to see her grandchild’s face, she was moved to tears of joy. She nodded, barely able to reply through her tears. She’s so grateful to be able to watch her beautiful grandchild grow up!

This heartwarming moment was captured on video. You can watch it on Aly’s Instagram account.

We’re so grateful to people like you for helping people like Musokwe and her community every day!

Thanks to your generous gifts, there are now boreholes serving communities in Zambia with safe and clean water, which helps prevent the spread of trachoma, a blinding eye disease.

Even more – because of you, people living in villages like Musokwe’s have access to eye care treatment like cataract surgeries. Thank you!

There are still so many people like Musokwe who need your help. Please give the gift of sight today – For All The World To See!

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We’re thrilled to have been named one of the Top 10 Impact Charities of 2018 by Charity Intelligence Canada. Just as for-profit organizations have an obligation to their shareholders, we have an obligation to our donors. We invest donor funds carefully and efficiently to create the long-term changes that will help eliminate avoidable blindness.

This recognition is a significant milestone on our shared path to help more people who are needlessly suffering, and to make a generational impact that will ensure the communities we work in will have access to the eye care they need today, tomorrow and in the future.

Charity Intelligence’s impact rating is determined by analyzing the measurable return for every dollar donated. They hold charities accountable for the support they receive from Canadian donors, and they observe that people will generally give more to charities when they are confident their donation will make an impact. Operation Eyesight made the list by eliminating avoidable blindness at the community level, through our Hospital-Based Community Eye Health Program model.

When assessing our impact, we look at how well we are meeting our strategic goals. We look at the number of patients treated, how much local capacity is being built and how well our hospital partners are progressing towards operational sustainability.

We create eye health-seeking behaviour in the communities we work in through outreach and education programs, and we empower communities to take responsibility for their eye health needs. This plays a vital role in helping to ensure our projects are sustainable and that people will continue to seek help even after our formal partnership with the hospital has ended.

The ripple effect is incredible! Kids can see to read and go to school, giving them the opportunity to get an education and later find a job and provide for themselves. Parents can return to work and provide for their families. Grandparents can watch their grandkids grow up, and their grandkids don’t need to stay home to care for them. This way, children can get an education and thrive in the future. Entire communities are transformed with the gift of sight!

We can’t thank our donors enough for supporting our sight-saving program model. Thanks to people like you, we’ve declared over 1,000 villages avoidable blindness-free in India and Nepal. And we’re not done yet! We’ve had great success in the communities we work in, but there are still millions of people who need our help. With your help, we can reach them – For All The World To See!

 Click here to donate and make an IMPACT.

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We’ve been working in Kerala since 1973, as part of our long-term development strategy to eliminate avoidable blindness in India.” While we’re not a disaster relief organization, Little Flower Hospital came to us, explaining the severity of the situation and asking us for help. We already have the processes and resources in place to provide immediate eye care to those in need, and we’re eager to help.

Hit by monsoon rains and torrential downpours, Kerala received over 222 cm of rainfall (40 per cent more than average) between June and August this year. Roads have been washed out and 80 per cent of the state was without electricity for almost a week. Homes were destroyed, leaving millions of people displaced and without any of their possessions, including their eyeglasses.

With the spread of waterborne bacteria, there is already a reported rise in eye infections – but people are unable to access eye care services for medicine or treatment. To make matters worse, there is a shortage of ophthalmic personnel and people are also unable to access their money to pay for services.

“We’re grateful to our donors who have given generously to our Greatest Needs Fund in the past, trusting us to put their donations to good use where it’s most needed in our work,” says Aly Bandali, our President & CEO. “This gives us the flexibility to be able to respond to situations like this.”

Little Flower Hospital has started conducting medical camps in relief camp sites, however, their resources are extremely limited, and thousands of people in need of medical assistance are being left out. Our team in India already has a plan in place to reach those who are unable to access, or afford, eye care services right now.

“We’ve started mapping out the areas where the need is greatest and will soon be mobilizing community outreach teams,” says Dr. Santosh Moses, our Regional Manager in South Asia. “At the health camps, we’ll screen people for eye problems and provide free eye care treatment for those in need. We’ll provide antibiotics to treat infection, new prescription eyeglasses, surgical treatment and other eye services as needed.”

Our organization has been working with Little Flower Hospital since 1975. As an international development organization, we’ve supported the establishment of the hospital’s eye department, enabling Little Flower Hospital to perform the first corneal transplantations in India. In addition, we’ve worked with eight other local eye hospitals in the past, at one point covering 10 out of the 14 districts in the state.

While we aim to integrate eye care services into the country’s existing infrastructure and ultimately help partner hospitals become self-sustaining, we’re also able to utilize its existing partnerships to react quickly to events such as the Kerala floods.

Your support means so much to so many! To help us to continue our sight-saving work in Africa and South Asia, you can donate $5 by texting “EYESIGHT” to 45678 or by going to our donation page.

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