Preeti also has big dreams for her family, who live together in a remote village in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

“I am passionate about my studies and dream of elevating my family out of poverty,” she says.

Preeti is also responsible for hauling drinking water from a nearby pond. One day while fetching water, she slipped and fell in a thorny bush, injuring her eye. Within a few days, her eye became red and swollen. Despite receiving eye drops from a local pharmacy, a month later her vision in her wounded eye had decreased dramatically, making even routine chores difficult. At school, Preeti struggled to participate in class and play with other kids.

A door-to-door eye health screening in her area eventually brought two community health volunteers to the family’s doorstep. Upon examination, the volunteers told Preeti and her father that she might have a cataract. On the volunteers’ advice, Preeti’s father took her to our nearby partner hospital, the Rotary Eye and ENT Hospital in Udhampur, where doctors diagnosed her with a traumatic cataract.

“I was worried about the cost of the treatment and was almost in tears,” her father says. “But I was relieved when the hospital told me that Preeti would undergo free surgery.”

Shortly after her operation, Preeti regained her vision.

“Operation Eyesight’s work began in India 60 years ago. In that time, we have built in-roads in communities and brought access to eye health care,” explains Tapobrat Bhuyan, our local program manager. “Vision loss of one family member can be devastating for the whole family.”

For Preeti, her restored sight has been life changing for her entire family.

“Our family has found a new life,” explains Preeti’s father. “The villagers have told her she is a very cheerful child and very active.”

Preeti’s future is now full of hope, made possible through the generosity of our donors. Thank you!

By making a donation today, you can help transform the life of a child like Preeti.

The post Help for the whole family appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

Last year, Operation Eyesight became the first and only NGO in the eye health sector to work in the challenging state called Jammu and Kashmir, India – and it’s all because of the Rotary Club of Norfolk Sunrise!

Many people in this mountainous state live in remote areas with no roads, making it extremely difficult to reach eye care services. Thanks to Norfolk Sunrise Rotary Club, we launched a Hospital-Based Community Eye Health Program in partnership with the Rotary Eye Hospital in Udhampur to overcome this barrier.

Locally trained community eye health workers who know their way around Udhampur are able to screen residents living in remote areas and refer those with eye health problems for treatment. Patients who require surgery are transported by bus to the hospital.

Over the past year, 70,000 people have been surveyed. Of those, 1,900 were diagnosed with cataract and another 3,500 received a free pair of prescription eyeglasses.

In February, the Norfolk Sunrise Rotary Club travelled from their Ontario home to Udhampur to see our projects first-hand. Here’s what the members had to say:

• 

  “I was very impressed with the quality of the staff. All seemed extremely competent and very motivated. We felt very comfortable that the project is in good hands!” – J.D

• “I was totally awed by the work Operation Eyesight is doing and planning to do in India – both the quality and commitment of the staff and the volume of the work being done.” – M.D.
• “It was very touching to see how our efforts impact the daily lives of those less fortunate.” – J.M.
• “I vividly recall a villager who was functionally blind due to cataracts. Surgery allowed him to change his life from being a dependent to being a provider for his family.” – A.P.
• “Thank you for the opportunity to share in the dream of Dr. Gullison, the vision of Art Jenkyns, and the ongoing work of your team.” – J.W.
• “There can be no greater gift than to restore someone’s sight so they can regain independence and a productive life.” – S.M.

The Norfolk Sunrise Rotary Club has been supporting Operation Eyesight for 20 years and will continue to fundraise for projects in Udamphur, including a dinner planned for October 1. If you’re in the Simcoe area and would like to get tickets, be sure to check norfolksunrise.org for updates.

Thank you, Norfolk Sunrise Rotary Club, for your dedicated support – and thank you, John Wallace, for sharing your Club’s story with us. Rotarians truly are making a difference in the lives of others… for all the world to see!  

The post Rotary Club helps us reach the unreached appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

Last September, we told you about Sarah Kiruri, a teacher at Kishermoruak Primary School in southern Kenya. Today we’d like to tell you about Ridgewood Rotary Club, a generous group of donors working behind the scenes to help keep Sarah’s school running smoothly.

In 2008, Ridgewood Rotary, a club from New Jersey, USA, formed a partnership with Kishermoruak Primary School. Since then, Ridgewood Rotary has supported the school through a variety of capital projects: building classrooms and administrative offices, construction of a fence around the compound and completion of a water project. Ridgewood Rotary has also provided over 300 students with hot lunches every day since the club’s partnership with the school began.

In 2008, Operation Eyesight developed a borehole in Kishermoruak as part of our efforts to prevent the spread of blinding trachoma. Our agreement with the community required that the residents provide a pump house to accommodate the diesel generator and pump needed to make the borehole operational.

Ridgewood Rotary provided the funding needed for the pump house and, as with the other capital projects, the school’s parent council provided the water necessary to prepare mortar and plaster for the walls of the facility. In addition, a washing station was built to provide students with sinks where they could wash their hands before lunch.

The borehole now serves the community of more than 1,000 men, women and children. With the provision of fresh water, the community is now cleaner and healthier. In addition, improved sanitation helps prevent the spread of the eye disease trachoma, which Operation Eyesight is ultimately working to eliminate.

Jerry Kallman, chairman of the Ridgewood Rotary Club Foundation, and his wife, Lorraine, visit Kishermoruak Primary School every year. (You can read highlights from Jerry and Lorraine’s past trips here.)

Their visits always begin with a meeting with the head teacher and the parents’ council, as all parties are involved with the decision-making and implementation of every project. Like Operation Eyesight, Ridgewood Rotary understands the importance of community engagement and sustainable development.

Thank you, Ridgewood Rotary Club, for your incredible support! It’s amazing to see the real difference you have made, and will continue to make, in this community. Thank you, and congratulations on your 90^th anniversary!

The post Ridgewood Rotary brings water and opportunity to Kenyan school appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

“Our service club supports other international charities too, but I think your organization provides the best bang for the buck,” he says. “Restoring sight is a miracle – so profound and so simple.”

Since its inception 17 years ago, the Norfolk Sunrise Club has generously supported a number of Operation Eyesight initiatives, including slum projects in India, and water projects in Kenya and Zambia. However, John was actually involved with Operation Eyesight long before that as a member of the Rotary Club of Simcoe, which also supports the organization.

“My involvement with Operation Eyesight began with a life-changing experience,” he says, explaining that in 1985, the organization’s founder, Art Jenkyns, escorted a contingent of Rotarians from across Canada to India. John was chosen to represent Ontario/Quebec clubs on the trip.

“I saw the incredible impact Operation Eyesight had on people’s lives – not just eye surgeries, but nutrition programs, education, well baby clinics, Vitamin A distribution, and so on. I came back committed to the cause.”

In 1997, John travelled to India again, this time as a group leader for an international Rotary exchange; and again, was impressed by a number of Operation Eyesight projects. He went once more in 2010, when he toured the organization’s slum projects.

“I was profoundly impacted,” he says simply. “The impact of Operation Eyesight’s work – it’s a human emotion you feel and respond to and share with others.”

John relates an anecdote to illustrate the local Rotary groups’ commitment to Operation Eyesight. “In 1989, when I was at the Simcoe Club, we donated $10,000 for a mobile eye unit in Kenya. About 10 years later, after I went to Norfolk Club, Simcoe sent me photos forwarded by a Brantford nurse who was volunteering in Kenya. Her pictures showed the unit, which was still out in the rural areas. We were so pleased to know that the impact goes on; that the unit hadn’t broken down or been sold, and our money hadn’t been lost to corruption or anything. It reinforced the fact that donating to Operation Eyesight is a good investment!”

You can read profiles of other generous donors in our Report to Donors.

The post Thanks to you, Rotary Club of Norfolk Sunrise appeared first on Operation Eyesight.