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…”

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.

“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!

The post A life threatened by trachoma was saved, thanks to your support! appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

The photo essay below explains how the SAFE strategy and the MDGs seek to address similar issues. (Photos taken by Ric Rowan in Narok, Kenya. Photo caption information adapted from the International Trachoma Initiative.)

Thank you to our donors for supporting us as we implement the SAFE strategy and work to address the MDGs! To learn more about our trachoma projects, visit our Programs and Projects pages.

The post SAFE strategy helps address Millennium Development Goals (Part 2 of 2) appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

Last week, I told you about how women and girls in many Maasai villages have to journey kilometres every day to search for water. Their lives are an endless routine of water gathering, so necessary in their parched, dusty land. Yet sometimes, a life can be changed…

Rebecca is 28 years old and lives on a Maasai homestead in Narok district, Kenya with her husband and their four children. Accessing water used to be a very stressful part of Rebecca’s life. She trudged up to 10 kilometres every day to access water from the Siyiapei River for her family and their small but precious herd of cows, sheep and goats.

Fortunately, Rebecca’s life took a significant change for the better a few years ago, when Operation Eyesight, the Kenya Ministry of Health Services, and Kenya’s Water Resources Management Authority drilled a borehole near their village.

The borehole is less than one kilometre from their homestead, and Rebecca and her husband are employed as the caretakers of the water project. This has given them an additional job of which they are very proud, as well as a steady monthly income.

Rebecca’s family has also earned the trust of the community as they regulate the water for domestic and livestock use and manage the banking that results from the water sales. Water beyond personal use is sold for a modest fee to help pay for maintenance of the well, generator and housing – all of which ensures the borehole’s sustainability for future generations.

The well has had significant health benefits for Rebecca and everyone else in the village. Water-borne diseases have been reduced, which has also reduced the money spent on medical services. In addition, access to clean water has allowed for improved personal hygiene, reducing ailments such as trachoma and skin infections which have plagued the area for years.

Rebecca hopes that “such worthy help will land in another community and that Operation Eyesight will get more money to continue helping others.” She is most grateful to our generous donors for supporting the well and freeing people like her from the fear of avoidable blindness.

Like the starfish, Rebecca’s life was changed because someone cared enough to make a difference! Learn more about how you can help people like her.

The post A starfish on the Kenyan plains appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

The difference between my first visit to Ongata Naado in 2006 (before the well was drilled) and my return visit in 2009 left me with the distinct impression that things were going to happen, but there wasn’t a lot you could put your finger on.

However, upon my third visit earlier this year, the changes I saw were stunning – I thought I was in the wrong village. This dry, dusty outpost on the Kenya plains has come to life! There are fruit trees and acres of gardens growing soy beans, cabbage and other crops, all looking neat and tidy.

Well-built brick buildings have popped up, including a new school, a dormitory, and a community dining room. The school now serves 648 children from Ongata Naado and four nearby villages. There are now 10 teachers, and the headmaster (who was the original teacher in the village) told me that being sent to teach at Ongata Naado “used to be punishment,” but not anymore.

The borehole has its own building which contains the pump and generator, and an electric fence surrounds it to keep elephants away. Water pipes are laid strategically to a long concrete trough for livestock as well as downhill to the gardens and even to other villages. This well is supplying water to some 3,000 people. The people of the village have so much initiative that they are even talking about bottling water for sale.

What really struck me was the mood. The women are thrilled that they don’t have to walk far for water every day, and their plans for the future are exciting. The community is resourceful, progressive and organized to seize opportunity.

This shows you what water can do. Oh, and trachoma, the original reason for the water well? This terrible eye disease has disappeared from Ongata Naado – it is gone, eliminated. The cycle of recurring infection that antibiotics and treatment could not stop has received, you might say, the final nail in its coffin.

I know you’ll agree that this is a wonderful story. But Ongata Naado is only the first of 51 waterpoints in the Narok district where Operation Eyesight began to drill boreholes. Wait until you hear about what happens with the other 50!

And remember – none of this would be happening without the generous support of our donors. So please help us continue this work as we reach into other parts of Africa. Take a look at our Gift Guide to see how you too can help change lives.

The post Ongata Naado – a village transformed (Part 2 of 2) appeared first on Operation Eyesight.