228 Charity Profile
Sightsavers … Sussex charity improving lives since 1950. By Lynn Smith Worldwide there are some 2.2billion people suffering with visual impairment, but, says Sussex based charity Sightsavers, nearly half of this impairment is preventable or treatable. Sightsavers works in over 30 of the world’s poorest countries where limited health systems and significant challenges accessing treatment leave millions with sight problems. Blindness can prevent people already living below the poverty line from earning a living, drawing their family into a spiral of greater poverty. Ella Pierce, Director of Fundraising and Marketing at Sightsavers, tells me that, “We work to prevent people from unneces- Archana, a cataract beneficiary being screened at a local sarily losing their sight, from treating eye con- screening camp in Odisha, India ditions such as cataract and prescribing glasses, to campaigning for the rights of people to end avoidable blindness and promote equality with disabilities and distributing treatments for of opportunity for people with disabilities.” neglected tropical diseases, such as trachoma, Sussex based international organisation the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness. Although Sightsavers is an international organisa“Thanks to our incredible supporters we are able tion, working in countries across Africa and Asia, to reach thousands of people each year, working its global headquarters are in Haywards Heath and like many of the organisation’s staff, Ella Pierce lives in Sussex, working alongside Sightsavers staff internationally. Ella says that Sightsavers is well known locally and that, “My (own) earliest memory of Sightsavers was seeing the charity featured on Blue Peter, whose 1986 appeal gave us our name.” Founded by Sir John and Lady Wilson in 1950, Sightsavers was initially based in London until, in 1971, the organisation moved to a new head office in Haywards Heath. John Wilson was blinded in an accident during a school chemistry lesson, at the age of twelve - he always maintained that he didn’t think the event was tragic and referred to his blindness as nothing more than a “confounded nuisance”. Following an extended tour of Africa and the Middle East, and shocked at the scale of blindness and the living conditions he witnessed, Sir John returned home determined to do something about it. Estalishing a non -government organisation to address the prevention of blindness and provide rehabilitation for those whose sight couldn’t be saved. The organisation became Sightsavers and Sir John campaigned until his death in 1999. Lady Wilson remains closely involved as vice president and still lives in Sussex.
