A Vision for the Sightless

Story by Inako Beshe

Photos by Jazz Christie

A VISION FOR THE SIGHTLESS

A gift to the school children. A gift to the grandchildren. A gift to the matriculant… If we take care of the elderly, we take care of the future.

We can all imagine that losing one’s sight will affect a person’s life in every way. At Flying for Life, we believe we can offer second chances. With your help, we can gear up to provide as much upliftment as we can to our country’s isolated communities. The impact of equal opportunity is improved quality of life for all.

People in the rural communities of South Africa often lack access to comprehensive medical services that sufficiently cater for their needs. There is a shortage of skilled medical professionals in these areas, resulting in numerous challenges

within these communities. Being faced with oncoming blindness and no means of treatment will change your life irrevocably. The basics are no longer attainable: you are unable to clean, work in your garden, grow or cook your food, or do your laundry. This is the beginning of a ripple effect that claws into generations. Your grandchildren miss out on the developmental stages crucial to the progression of their own lives. They stay home from school to look after you. They don’t go to work to make sure you can get to the loo safely.

Starting with the individual, one person affects another, which has a knock-on effect in the community. On September’s eye-doctor flight we returned to rural Limpopo. When sitting down

and speaking with the patients from Venda, it became clear that the elderly often have to live on their own. Most families have only one or two family members to depend on and take strain when providing support to an elderly relative. These elderly patients find assistance where they can, to make their way to various checkups at local clinics in order to be transferred to a hospital for surgery. This normally takes years, with a long list of people awaiting surgery at public hospitals access to specialists is difficult.

Most of the patients we spoke with depend on their pension funds, or social and state grants, which makes it difficult or impossible for these individuals to afford private institutions that can provide them with the time-sensitive surgeries they need to go on with their daily lives.

The encouraging news we did take away from this was that these government pensions went a long way in accessing hired domestic help for these patients.

Sam Thitshi, one of the patients we attended to, mentioned he was supposed to be operated on before Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020.

But due to the lockdown, all procedures were cancelled. Considering the severity of his case, and the infection in his right eye at risk of spreading, he had no choice but to use R17 000 of his life savings for a private operation. He is one of the few who still receives a pension from his previous employer. He depends on it and that is how he can take care of himself and his family. This September he’ll receive his second surgery for his left eye, at no cost.

Photo P.30: A privileged and humbling view on the way home from operating on 14 individuals who will now have their sight back.

Photo P.31: Preparing for surgery.

Photo P.33: Two patients waiting to go into theatre, local anaes thetic has just been aplied.

There is an endless list of citizens who, with the loss of their vision, are unable to work and earn an income to sustain themselves and their families. A former teacher, one of our patients, was forced to stop teaching and resign years before his retirement age. If you cannot read, you cannot teach in school. He taught mathematics, economic management science, and technology. What a loss of such an asset to the school, the children, and that community!

He is now 68 and has been staying at home with his family, depending on them. Today he received cataract surgery. A new lens. And a chance to use his skill and invest in his grandchildren.

IT IS FLYING FOR LIFE’S VISION TO UPLIFT COMMUNITIES AND PREVENT THE LOSS OF LIVELIHOODS. WE ARE PRIVILEGED TO BRING CHANGE AND HEALING. WE ARE PRIVILEGED TO FLY VOLUNTEERS, WHO WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, TO REMOTE LOCATIONS. THIS SEPTEMBER WE MANAGED TO SUCCESSFULLY PERFORM 14 EYE SURGERIES. THIS IS HOW WE CHANGE THE NARRATIVE AND KICK-START A NEW RIPPLE EFFECT.

Join us for Help, Hope, and Healing. We offer many ways to get involved, We would like to encourage you that everyone can play a part.

For volunteer and partnering enquiries, email us at info@flyingforlife.co.za.

For funding and corporate giving enquiries, email us at fundraising@flyingforlife.co.za