Focus magazine UK Spring 2014 by Sightsavers

Spring 2014

Eye care in remote places How we get help to the people who need it most

Welcome So, where are you reading this first issue of Focus – perhaps curled up on the sofa or being shaken along on the bus? We hope you’ll enjoy travelling far and wide with us to see your donations work their magic. In September, you helped make an eye camp a reality in South Sudan, despite the lack of roads, power and clean water in this war-torn and youngest of countries. The nearest hospital for the people of Nasir County, Upper Nile State, is three to four days’ journey away by boat so eye problems usually go untreated. By the end of 14 days of dawn-to-dusk work, our team had performed 95 cataract and 191 advanced trachoma surgeries.

Our cover shows swampy terrain around a traditional Nasir County homestead. Sisters Julius and Nyakaka Yaul Nyuon travelled two days for Nyakaka (below right) to have cataract surgery – and to see her twin clearly for the first time in years.

Thank you.

Focus Spring 2014

In this issue ... 4 Vision Joanna Lumley

Bangladesh

meets Arif in Dhaka

South Sudan Kenya

on … 6 Focus Cataract facts, figures

Indian Ocean

and surgery this 8 Picture Stepping out

“ We have only one operating microscope, shared between areas”

after treatment view 10 New Hazrat has hope for the future

Surgeon Kun Chuol

nspire 12 IDining in the dark, exploring the Poles and more

14 Horizons Including our part in Her Majesty’s legacy to the Commonwealth

4 “ Now I’m seeing everything!” Arif Mia

0800 446 1111 (Mon to Fri, 8am to 5pm) info@sightsavers.org @Sightsavers SightsaversUK

www.sightsavers.org.uk

Arif was treated as part of the Dhaka Urban Comprehensive Eye Care Project, a partnership between Sightsavers, Standard Chartered Bank, the Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital and three other hospitals.

1 Abdul, Someza and their five-year-old son Arif, before his treatment 2 Joanna took a close interest in the surgery 3 The moment before little Arif’s eye patch came off 4 Eight years later, “Auntie” is reunited with Arif, now aged 12 and full of confidence

Patients are labourers, factory workers, street vendors, rickshaw pullers and their families, each with an average income of 60p a day.

Focus Spring 2014

“ I got

Rickshaw puller’s son Arif had cataract surgery in 2005 and Joanna Lumley was there to see it. Last year, the pair had an emotional reunion. In the bustle of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, Joanna Lumley muses: “People are the same the world over. We have different cultures and beliefs, different looks, different circumstances. But underneath, a mother is a mother and a little boy is a little boy.” The actress is meeting Someza and her 12-year-old son Arif – a child whose early years had been such a concern to his family. Within months of his birth, this little boy had developed cataract in both eyes and lost all sight. He knew his mother’s voice but not her face. Arif’s father Abdul kept the family fed through his work as a rickshaw puller but worried how Arif was ever going to be able to fend for himself? He couldn’t even play like other children, so being a success at school or working in the fields with the neighbours were simply beyond imagination.

Fears and dreams

Things looked hopeless until a community rehabilitation worker supported by Sightsavers came to the remote village. Her name was Lucky. She found five-year-old Arif sitting still and quiet in front of the house, alone. But she brought with her some almost unbelievable news: cataract can be operated on and, if done in time, a child’s sight restored. Back in 2005, Sightsavers Ambassador Joanna had the honour of accompanying Arif and his mother to hospital – their first visit to the big city. She recalls: “Someza was extremely courteous, but the stress showed on every part of her face. She was so brave.”

back my life”

The actress gowned up and closely observed the 35-minute operation. She was a witness too when, just a day later, Arif not only correctly identified the number of fingers raised by the surgeon but also saw his mother for the first time: “Even the hospital director had great tears splashing off her cheeks.” Someza was silent in the hubbub but Joanna could tell how relieved she was: “There was this extraordinary dignity. Her face became suffused with colour and all the tension had gone. She couldn’t stop holding Arif and smiling.”

Never forget

Fast forward eight years, and Joanna Lumley is reunited with her “shy, proud friend” who remembers her fondly as “Auntie”. She sums up: “By mending eyesight, you’re actually mending society at the same time, mending economies. I believe that movement towards good is inexorable, but it creeps… Yet this is the most perfect thing you can do.” Arif speaks for himself: “I never forget about that day. Now I’m seeing everything, running, studying. I got back my life.” You can see and hear more from Joanna and Arif’s meetings at www.sightsavers.org.uk/arif and http://bit.ly/1ePvvRz

Vision

Focus on …

cataract Who?

The name derives from the Latin ‘cataracta’, meaning ‘waterfall’ (the rapids turn clear water white) or ‘portcullis’ (shutting out the world).

Cataract is the leading cause of avoidable blindness worldwide with 18 million people affected. In the countries where we work, many people with cataract go without treatment due to lack of knowledge, a lack of equipment and trained staff in hospitals, and the difficulty in travelling to and paying for treatment.

Why? The lens of the eye is made almost entirely of protein molecules. If they tangle, the tissue gradually loses its transparency. Causes of tangling are old age, physical injury, UVB light, diabetes, genetic conditions, some medications and smoking.

When and where?

How? Your donations help by: • training community workers to identify patients. • training specialist doctors and nurses.

Cataract surgery was written about as long ago as • providing free transport 800 BC in an Indian Sanskrit and free surgery. manuscript and 1000 AD • providing eye camps in by Iraqi–Egyptian scientist remote areas that lack Ammar ibn Ali al-Mawsili. healthcare services. In 1950, Harold Ridley implanted the first artificial lens and, in 1967, Charles Kelman introduced phacoemulsification (see opposite page). people suffer

18m

from cataract

Focus Spring 2014

1 © Zul Mukhida / Sightsavers

What?

Welcome to the first of a series on eye conditions you’re helping to tackle

2 1 John Makhonde’s cataract was well developed and clearly visible 2 The number of eye health workers across Africa is critically low but you’re helping to train more. Here’s John being operated on in Blantyre, Malawi 3 After his operation, John is thrilled to see his wife again – and he can return to work

The detail Capsule and lens

Retina

Pupil

Optic nerve

Iris

To the brain Modern surgery is carried out with the aid of a microscope and involves pulling the cataract out of the eye through a small incision. Most of the capsule remains and is used to hold a plastic replacement lens. There is no need for

stitches so recovery is fast. In the best-equipped hospitals, high-frequency sound energy is used to break up the cataract so it can be sucked out through an even tinier incision. This is called phacoemulsification.

The traditional treatment of “couching” crudely knocks the entire cataract and capsule out of the way to sink to the bottom of the eyeball. This can lead to infection and permanent damage.

Cornea

The lens is suspended just behind the iris in a pocket or capsule supported by a ring of fantastically fine fibres. With cataract, light can still pass through the cornea (the clear layer at the front of the eye) and the pupil (the aperture in the iris) but it can’t reach the retina, the ‘film’ in the ‘camera’. So no signal reaches the optic nerve, and the brain has nothing to process.

Focus on …

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To give a voice to the millions of people like Hazrat, who have a disability, join our campaign Put Us in the Picture.

Equipping the experts

Go online to www.sightsavers.org.uk/ ourcampaign and Put Yourself in the Picture by uploading your photo to our growing montage of supporters.

“ It upsets me that I see patients who need help and I am not able to help them because of something that is not available.

“ I enjoy my job very much, especially bringing someone back to normal life after they have been living in darkness: it’s a very wonderful thing.

“ We need very important pieces of equipment. We have only one operating microscope, shared between areas. A slit lamp would make diagnosis easier and more accurate. If there is medication available, it’s difficult for people to pay for, as many blind people have no job and they are very poor. This is the challenge of working in South Sudan.”

You can also sign up for regular email updates and read the detail in our influential report to policy makers.

Cataract surgeon Kun Chuol

perf

I want to help end avoidable blindness 1 I’m sending a donation of:

There are one billion people with disabilities around the world, including 39 million people who are blind.

£28 could fund a sight-restoring operation for an adult like John so they can work £50 could give another child like Arif the chance to play and study £375 could equip a surgeon like Kun with the instruments they need to restore sight

2 Payment method: Cheque

A huge 80 per cent of disabled people live in developing countries. They have the same needs and rights to health, education and employment as everyone else but they are ignored.

(please enter own amount)

Other amount £

(made payable

Postal Order

CAF Voucher to Sightsavers)

Please debit my: MasterCard

Visa

CAF Card

Amex

Card no Start date M M / Y Y

Expiry date M M / Y Y

Name on card Signature

With your support, we can make lasting change for people who are blind, visually impaired and disabled.

Date

3 About me: Title

Initials

Surname

Address Postcode If you would like to receive occasional email updates from Sightsavers, please tell us your email address. We will not share your data with any other organisation and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Email Through Gift Aid, any donation you give will be worth 25% more, at no extra cost to you. If you would like Sightsavers to reclaim the tax you have paid on all your donations made in the last four years and any future donations you make, please tick the box below. To qualify for Gift Aid you must pay as much UK income and/or capital gains tax as Sightsavers (and any other organisation you may support) will reclaim in each tax year (6 April to 5 April), currently 25p for every £1 you donate. VAT and council tax do not qualify. I’d like Sightsavers to claim Gift Aid on my donations

Signature

Date

people around the world are disabled

Please note we are unable to claim Gift Aid without your full name and home address.

Registered charity numbers 207544 and SC038110.

SS0214V3M1

Please send to: Sightsavers, FREEPOST SN1457, Halifax Road, MELKSHAM SN12 7BR Your donation will be used to support our work wherever the need is greatest.

1 billion

Stepping out Venturing into the daylight unaided, this woman is one of nearly 300 patients to regain their independence and dignity thanks to sight-saving surgery at our eye camp in South Sudan. For two weeks, the medical team worked long hours in basic conditions to bring new life to remote communities in Upper Nile State.

Picture this ÂŠ Adriane Ohanesian / Sightsavers

Life begins at … If your sight can’t be restored, even by surgery, how do you find hope for the future? Hazrat’s story shows the way Hazrat Billal loves his grocery shop. “I’m ideal to run it,” he says. “Everybody knows me!” He’s open whenever his customers might need him, from early in the morning to late at night, and does a roaring trade in soap and cooking oil. Hazrat keeps a tidy establishment – that way he can find anything he’s asked for. But handling money can be tricky. Hazrat can’t see, so the various values of otherwise nearly identical notes are hard to tell apart. Blind since birth, the 39-year-old is used to coping with the daily challenges of sight loss. He’s been luckier than many people in his situation, having relatives who are willing and able to support him through life. Yet when he got married and he and

his wife Shomola had two children, Hazrat didn’t feel quite the father he wanted to be. He didn’t have the confidence or practical skills to go out and earn a living for the family himself. So, what changed?

As simple as ABC In 2008, a worker from Sightsavers’ Bangladeshi partner Action for Blind Children (ABC) came across Hazrat. Despite its name, ABC works with people of any age who have disabilities, and their worker knew the potential for Hazrat’s life, if he could only access the right services. Thanks to ABC’s referral, Hazrat was officially registered as permanently disabled and introduced to other people with visual impairment – and there’s been no holding him back since.

Hazrat and 20 other members formed the self-help group Arjunchar Dristi Protibondi Bohumoki Kallayan Samabay Samity. They meet monthly and their aims are to support each other to live independently, become financially independent as a group, and campaign for the rights of people with disabilities in Narshingdi town. Hazrat’s friend Rashida (centre) went blind from glaucoma so, when her husband left, she was frightened for her and her children’s security. Thanks to the self-help group, she now has an income from keeping chickens

It was this, to him, revolutionary thinking that enabled Hazrat to embark on a new life – and he’s delighted at the path he’s taken: “Now I can set an example of work for my children to see.”

We want more people like Hazrat to have the chance to make a life for themselves. You can help by signing up to our campaign here www.sightsavers.org.uk/ourcampaign

10 Focus Spring 2014

ÂŠ Peter Caton / Sightsavers

Hazrat and his family are proud of his grocery shop

New view

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I want to help end avoidable blindness 1 I’m sending a donation of:

There are one billion people with disabilities around the world, including 39 million people who are blind.

2 Payment method: Cheque

A huge 80 per cent of disabled people live in developing countries. They have the same needs and rights to health, education and employment as everyone else but they are ignored.

(please enter own amount)

Other amount £

(made payable

Postal Order

CAF Voucher to Sightsavers)

Please debit my: MasterCard

Visa

CAF Card

Amex

Card no Start date M M / Y Y

Expiry date M M / Y Y

Name on card Signature

With your support, we can make lasting change for people who are blind, visually impaired and disabled.

Date

3 About me: Title

Initials

Surname

Signature

Date

people around the world are disabled

Please note we are unable to claim Gift Aid without your full name and home address.

Registered charity numbers 207544 and SC038110.

SS0214V3M1

Please send to: Sightsavers, FREEPOST SN1457, Halifax Road, MELKSHAM SN12 7BR Your donation will be used to support our work wherever the need is greatest.

1 billion

perf

To give a voice to the millions of people like Hazrat, who have a disability, join our campaign Put Us in the Picture.

Equipping the experts

Go online to www.sightsavers.org.uk/ ourcampaign and Put Yourself in the Picture by uploading your photo to our growing montage of supporters.

“ It upsets me that I see patients who need help and I am not able to help them because of something that is not available.

“ I enjoy my job very much, especially bringing someone back to normal life after they have been living in darkness: it’s a very wonderful thing.

You can also sign up for regular email updates and read the detail in our influential report to policy makers.

Cataract surgeon Kun Chuol

Inspire

You’re part of something big! Literally millions of people can look forward to a better future thanks to Sightsavers’ supporters across the globe …

The young people of St Euphemia, Venice, write and perform a play each year and donate the proceeds to charity. For their latest production, they’ve chosen Sightsavers. “Our contribution might be small but if we help to save the sight of just one person, it would be worth it,” says cast member Monica.

Eight-year-old ‘Zackey Zoomer’ (Isaac Taylor-Cummings) ran the Mini Great South Run in Portsmouth, in both 2012 and 2013, raising £1,233 in sponsorship: “It was tough” he says, “and at the end I just had to sit down for a long, long time. But I’m so excited to be stopping children go blind.”

Every

£1

changes lives

Our social media followers in India donated a virtual ‘sparkle’ for Diwali, the festival of lights. As our colleagues in Delhi say: “Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others, sparkle in its glory too.” © Adriane Ohanesian / Sightsavers

French photographer Stephanie Bouchet is giving Sightsavers 10 per cent of the proceeds from sales of her Arctic and Antarctic imagery. Her stunning pictures can be viewed and purchased online at http://smu.gs/1h6b4qf.

12 Focus Spring 2014

Sightsavers Trustee Will Gardner and six friends raised £1,850 by cycling 220 miles or so across Wales – in just two days: “Our adventure included Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons,” says Will. “It was beautiful but daunting.” As we go to print, Enda Glynn and Adrian Trifu are nearing completion of a 4,000-mile road trip from Galway to The Gambia as part of the Dakar Banger Rally Challenge. They’re also closing on €2,500 in sponsorship for Sightsavers. See their snaps on Facebook @ballinlass2banjul.

The Fairmont Hotel in Dubai hosts a weekly event at which customers dine in the dark, waited on by staff equipped with night vision goggles. Twelve per cent of each bill is donated to Sightsavers. See ‘Noire’ for yourself at http://bit.ly/1kQq8KF.

Pooling the proceeds If you hold a small number of financial shares, selling them might cost more than they are worth. But you could still put those shares to good use.

Tetlach Moonwal with his mother after treatment for a bacterial eye infection at our South Sudan eye camp

ShareGift accepts share donations of all sizes, no matter how small, then groups them together and sells them efficiently and at the best time – all to generate funds for charities suggested by the donors. In fact, it’s given more than £16 million to more than 2,000 charities – including over £100,000 to Sightsavers since 1999. To find out more, have a look at the online guide at www.sharegift.org or contact ShareGift directly on 020 7930 3737 or help@sharegift.org. Please remember to mention Sightsavers!

And you! No matter how large or small, your donation is so valuable. Every £1 goes a long way, thanks to local partners who understand each unique community we work in. So, if you’re feeling inspired to try something new for Sightsavers whether at home, work, school or further afield, let us know and we’ll share your success with our readers.

Inspire

Horizons Together, we can change the world – here’s a glimpse of how

The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust

has granted Sightsavers a staggering £39.8 million to tackle trachoma in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda with other members of the International Coalition for Trachoma Control. The Trust was set up to support projects that will enrich the lives and opportunities of citizens across the Commonwealth, providing a lasting legacy for Her Majesty. Look out for reports from this ambitious five-year project in future issues of Focus. We’ll be marking each milestone in this latest part of our journey to eliminate what is an excruciating, ultimately blinding but neglected tropical disease.

The Times newspaper chose Sightsavers and two other

charities for its Christmas 2013 appeal. The print and online features, photos and films about our work in Ghana, Kenya and Senegal were so popular that the appeal was extended to the end of January. We’ve collected some of the stories at www.sightsavers.org.uk/timesappeal including that of the Kenyan women pictured above at a trachoma clinic. As this issue of Focus went to print, readers of The Times had so far donated £128,834 (on top of which we’re claiming £19,872 Gift Aid) and high street fashion retailer River Island had given £25,000, making a total of £173,706. A great start to 2014!

which could help in the worldwide fight against river blindness. Thank you! We’re planning to eliminate river blindness (onchocerciasis) in every one of the countries we work in, by 2020. And our partner Merck & Co. Inc. has made the extraordinary commitment

14 Focus Spring 2014

of providing the treatment Mectizan® free of charge until it’s no longer needed. In 2013 alone, our partnership protected more than 22 million people, an achievement recognised by the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, which has given its 2013 Corporate Social Responsibility Award to the pharmaceutical.

Sightsavers’ winter appeal raised £547,409

BBC Radio 4 has awarded Sightsavers one of its weekly appeal broadcast slots. Listen out for Sightsavers Ambassador Lorraine Kelly (pictured below) on Sunday 30 March at 7.55am and again on Thursday 3 April at 3.27pm.

Our partner Powerful Information received a flurry

of emails at their offices in Milton Keynes in November – nothing new in the business or charity world but a surprise and delight in this case.

Trainees get to grips with the IT kit designed for their needs

The message of World Sight Day 2013 was

‘Get your eyes tested’ so Sightsavers surveyed 2,089 people in the UK about eye tests funded by employers. We found that 78 per cent of those who could have had a free test through their workplace hadn’t. We used this startling statistic to promote the importance of eye health care and to invite the public to donate the cost of their eye test. In Ireland, TV and radio presenter Miriam O’Callaghan marked the day by ceremonially blindfolding the statue of Countess Markievicz in Dublin.

Thirty-two professionals with visual impairments in Sierra Leone had embarked on a computing course and were showing off their newfound skills. Developed by Powerful Information and run by two national voluntary organisations, the Association of the Blind and Vision for the Blind, the course was a pilot

that may now be scaled up to use in schools and colleges. One student, Marie, emailed: “This is just to inform you that we have reached the stage of learning how to use the internet and I have been able to create my own account successfully. Regards.” Mike Flood from Powerful Information thanked Sightsavers for supporting the project through our innovation fund and said: “This is COMMUNICATION and it is going to open up a whole new world for our colleagues. We are delighted for them.”

Seeing Our World is Sightsavers’ new resource for teaching secondary school age students in Ireland about international development. It provides an opportunity to explore and understand the main challenges that people who are blind or visually impaired face in developing countries. Contact schools@sightsavers.ie to request a copy.

The Sightsavers 2014 calendar

“Two thirds of people who are blind in the world are women,” she said, “and as a woman and a mother, I am only too happy to lend my support to eliminating avoidable blindness.”

features images from our Ireland Junior Painter Awards competition. It’s now on sale in Art & Hobby and Star School Supplies stores and online from rcronin@sightsavers.ie.

This year’s World Sight Day is 9 October.

Horizons

Spring 2014

Working in developing countries to combat avoidable blindness and promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities. Registered charity numbers 207544 and SC038110