Sita (above) is an 82-year-old woman who lives in Bungamati, Nepal. Sadly, her husband passed away some years ago, so she’s been living with her step son and his family ever since. She helps her daughter-in-law take care of the household.
However, over the years Sita discovered that her everyday activities were becoming more difficult to perform. She struggled to see what she was doing. Simple tasks became impossible!
Neither Sita nor her family knew what was the matter. Without access to professional eye care, her eyesight only got worse. Her daughter-in-law did as much as she could to help, but it was difficult for her to keep up with her obligations as a wife and mother, let alone taking care of her poor mother-in-law.
Just when things seemed critical, Operation Eyesight’s community health workers arrived in Sita’s village. They went door-to-door performing eye health surveys, and when they reached her home, they diagnosed Sita with cataract in her left eye. Unfortunately, her right eye was diagnosed with incurable corneal opacity.
To save her remaining vision, Sita was immediately referred to the Nepal Eye Hospital for cataract treatment. However, her family was fearful. They refused the referral!
Without cataract surgery, it seemed like Sita would go completely blind. But what could she do?
Nonetheless, the health workers were determined to help, so they started counselling Sita’s family on the importance of eye health care. After a lot of hard work, it was the daughter-in-law who first understood that the vision in Sita’s left eye could be restored with proper treatment. With her help, the rest of the family eventually consented to the surgery.
And that’s when Sita’s life changed! Thanks to the generosity of donors like you, she received sight-saving cataract surgery at no cost to her family!
Today, Sita and her family are extremely grateful for the help they received.
“I feel like I have a brand-new life,” she says happily. “Today, I can see again!”
There are many other seniors like Sita who need your help. Donate to our cataract surgery program today to give the gift of sight and restore someone’s quality of life!