In just a few short years, Operation Eyesight and our supporters have made a remarkable impact through the NMDC Hyderabad Marathon. This year marks our fourth consecutive year participating, with our team proudly donning Operation Eyesight jerseys to spread the message of eye health and raise funds for our Gift of Sight campaign. Last year, we raised INR 5,14,152, surpassing our goal of INR 5,00,000 for 2024 and exceeding our previous fundraising record.

A marathon that unites and inspires

Now in its 14th year, the NMDC Hyderabad Marathon 2025 is more than just a sporting event – it’s a movement that brings thousands of individuals together for a common cause, creating positive change. As one of the 20+ NGOs supported through the event, we are proud to be part of this inspiring community that champions healthcare, education, environmental sustainability, and women’s empowerment.

Donate Here

Discover more about our team members, meet the runners, and contribute to our fundraising mission by visiting the Operation Eyesight India team page.

Voices from the team: Why we run

Subhadip Bhattacharya, Head – Resource Mobilization at Operation Eyesight India, shares his experience:

“Every year, we challenge ourselves to go beyond limits – not just physically, but in our mission to eliminate avoidable vision loss. Running in this Marathon isn’t just about endurance; it’s about giving children the clear vision they need to learn and succeed. Every step we take represents a student who will now be able to see the blackboard clearly. Your support fuels this mission.”

To learn more or make a donation, visit our team page.

Reflecting on 2024’s success

In 2024, through our partner hospitals, vision centres, and outreach camps, we accomplished these remarkable milestones:

✅ Free eye screenings for 7,500 students
✅ 362 free pairs of spectacles distributed

This year, our goal is to reach even more people!

Join us: Be part of the movement

The NMDC Hyderabad Marathon 2025, powered by IDFC First Bank and organized by Hyderabad Runners Society, has grown from 1,250 runners in 2011 to over 27,000 participants, making it India’s second-largest running event. The event aims to spread awareness about running, promote an active lifestyle and unite the city for a common cause.

Support Operation Eyesight at the NMDC Hyderabad Marathon 2025. Your generous donations will provide free spectacles for students and fund eye surgeries for senior citizens in need. Join us in preventing blindness and restoring sight. Give the Gift of Sight now and help us make 2025 our most impactful year yet!

👉 Donate today

🏃‍ Register with an Operation Eyesight charity bib

The post We are back in the race at NMDC Hyderabad Marathon 2025 appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

For the past year, Kandi found he had difficulty in seeing. He visited three different eye clinics, where he was prescribed eyeglasses and recommended surgery. However, as a daily wage earner, Kandi barely managed to make ends meet. He could never imagine having enough money to pay for eye surgery, even though he needed it desperately.

His failing eyesight soon made it very difficult for him to work, especially during evening and night hours. He became dependent on his wife or mother to help him travel to his workplace. Luckily, a colleague was very supportive and helped him to accomplish tasks at work.

Meanwhile, Kandi’s mother also started losing her vision, which began to restrict her movements even at home. With both her husband and mother-in-law incapacitated with blindness, the burden on Kandi’s wife Pusphalatha became heavy. Life was very difficult for the family.

Fortunately, Pusphalatha’s sister lives in Fatehnagar, a slum area of Hyderabad where Operation Eyesight has community eye health projects as part of the Seeing is Believing program, sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank. She told a project community health worker about her sister’s dilemma, and the worker encouraged her to tell her sister about the vision centre.

Pusphlatha brought her mother-in-law and husband to the vision centre where they both were diagnosed with cataract and referred to Kishor Chand Eye Hospital for surgery. They were overjoyed when the community health worker reassured them that funding from Operation Eyesight donors would cover the cost of the surgeries.

Kandi was able to secure a month’s leave from his employer to undergo surgery, and he and his mother went to the hospital, where they underwent surgery one after another.

While his mother is very grateful to the project staff for giving her vision back, Kandi wants to spread the news about the good work carried out by Operation Eyesight and the community eye health project. Perhaps the happiest of all was Pusphlatha. One of our staff remarked that “the relief on Kandi’s wife’s face was beyond words.”

Read more about our innovative community development programs in India.

The post Eye surgeries improve a struggling family’s quality of life appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

As Director of Policy and Planning for International Programs, most of my international relationships are maintained by phone or email. How did we ever manage without the internet? I have been to India and Africa, and I can confirm how rich and diverse these places are. Yes, there are language and culture gaps between my world and theirs, but the bigger gap is one of prosperity. Those with limited means, the poor of the tropical world, struggle with life-and-death issues that I can only imagine.

How do they manage? It’s all about family – the way that mothers, brothers, uncles and aunts all look out for one another, from the youngest to the oldest. For many, their social safety net is each other.

Someone once asked me if the poor of India are sad. I can’t answer that question, but I can say that many of the people I’ve seen on the streets of Mumbai or in the slums of Hyderabad are industrious and highly motivated, regardless of their station in life.

Imagine being really poor, living under a tarp by the side of the road and then one day, making enough money to move into a hut with a solid roof – that’s progress! Family forms the foundation of their lives and these people often make great sacrifices for one another – they take nothing for granted.

Yes, there are differences between Canada and the developing world, but family is important everywhere. Here in Alberta (and also in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Ontario), we even have a statutory holiday called Family Day, which occurs every year on the third Monday of February. If you’re celebrating it this weekend, we hope you enjoy the extra time with your family.

At Operation Eyesight, we’ve come to see that family and community – social interconnectedness – is the key to addressing the deep issues behind visual impairment and other health problems. Right now in India, we are hiring people of limited means, and training them to work alongside their neighbours in the poor sections of urban and rural India. Using their own social networks, these Community Health Workers are conveying the message that blindness is not inevitable, so that people get the help they need. In this way, entire families, neighbourhoods and villages are helped to grow in health and prosperity.

To learn more about the places where this is happening, visit the Programs and Projects section of our website.

The post Family forms the foundation appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

Hyderabad is a huge city (compared with Calgary, where I live) with all the urban drama, extreme sights and sounds, and contrast between rich and poor that characterize most Indian cities. Leaving the city for the smaller centres can be a relief to the senses, but the contrasts and disparities are no less evident in the countryside.

While in India and other developing countries, I’m often struck by the vulnerability of women, especially those who must fend for themselves. I note that women and children are the focus of this year’s International Development Week (February 5-11). It’s a good time, therefore, to remember that nearly two-thirds of blind people worldwide are women and girls, and in many places, men have twice the access to eye care as women.* In countries with significant poverty, like the places where Operation Eyesight is at work, equal access to eye care could substantially reduce blindness and the problems associated with low vision.

Operation Eyesight’s approach to development is based on the belief that all people, regardless of income, location or gender, should have access to information about eye health and to medical services when they need them. That, we believe, is the key to eliminating avoidable blindness.

I’m reminded of the story of Parvathy, a woman who benefited from the community outreach program of Garnett Memorial Hospital in southern India. Talk about vulnerable! Parvathy’s work as a weaver was her livelihood, but blindness from cataracts threatened her very life. You can read about her in the latest issue of SightLines newsletter on page one.

International Development Week is a time to learn more about life in developing countries and ways to contribute to positive change locally and globally. Speaking from here in Hyderabad, I see women struggling with poverty, but I also see a culture that is rich in ancient tradition as well as modern innovation. Take time next week, if you can, to learn about India and all it has to offer.

Also, stay tuned to Grey Mist Lifting in the weeks ahead for more stories about the ways that international development is changing the world, and how you can help.

* Source: Vision 2020: The Right to Sight

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