The photo essay below explains how the SAFE strategy and the MDGs seek to address similar issues. (Photos taken by Ric Rowan in Narok, Kenya. Photo caption information adapted from the International Trachoma Initiative.)

Thank you to our donors for supporting us as we implement the SAFE strategy and work to address the MDGs! To learn more about our trachoma projects, visit our Programs and Projects pages.

The post SAFE strategy helps address Millennium Development Goals (Part 2 of 2) appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

Last week, I told you about how women and girls in many Maasai villages have to journey kilometres every day to search for water. Their lives are an endless routine of water gathering, so necessary in their parched, dusty land. Yet sometimes, a life can be changed…

Rebecca is 28 years old and lives on a Maasai homestead in Narok district, Kenya with her husband and their four children. Accessing water used to be a very stressful part of Rebecca’s life. She trudged up to 10 kilometres every day to access water from the Siyiapei River for her family and their small but precious herd of cows, sheep and goats.

Fortunately, Rebecca’s life took a significant change for the better a few years ago, when Operation Eyesight, the Kenya Ministry of Health Services, and Kenya’s Water Resources Management Authority drilled a borehole near their village.

The borehole is less than one kilometre from their homestead, and Rebecca and her husband are employed as the caretakers of the water project. This has given them an additional job of which they are very proud, as well as a steady monthly income.

Rebecca’s family has also earned the trust of the community as they regulate the water for domestic and livestock use and manage the banking that results from the water sales. Water beyond personal use is sold for a modest fee to help pay for maintenance of the well, generator and housing – all of which ensures the borehole’s sustainability for future generations.

The well has had significant health benefits for Rebecca and everyone else in the village. Water-borne diseases have been reduced, which has also reduced the money spent on medical services. In addition, access to clean water has allowed for improved personal hygiene, reducing ailments such as trachoma and skin infections which have plagued the area for years.

Rebecca hopes that “such worthy help will land in another community and that Operation Eyesight will get more money to continue helping others.” She is most grateful to our generous donors for supporting the well and freeing people like her from the fear of avoidable blindness.

Like the starfish, Rebecca’s life was changed because someone cared enough to make a difference! Learn more about how you can help people like her.

The post A starfish on the Kenyan plains appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

The difference between my first visit to Ongata Naado in 2006 (before the well was drilled) and my return visit in 2009 left me with the distinct impression that things were going to happen, but there wasn’t a lot you could put your finger on.

However, upon my third visit earlier this year, the changes I saw were stunning – I thought I was in the wrong village. This dry, dusty outpost on the Kenya plains has come to life! There are fruit trees and acres of gardens growing soy beans, cabbage and other crops, all looking neat and tidy.

Well-built brick buildings have popped up, including a new school, a dormitory, and a community dining room. The school now serves 648 children from Ongata Naado and four nearby villages. There are now 10 teachers, and the headmaster (who was the original teacher in the village) told me that being sent to teach at Ongata Naado “used to be punishment,” but not anymore.

The borehole has its own building which contains the pump and generator, and an electric fence surrounds it to keep elephants away. Water pipes are laid strategically to a long concrete trough for livestock as well as downhill to the gardens and even to other villages. This well is supplying water to some 3,000 people. The people of the village have so much initiative that they are even talking about bottling water for sale.

What really struck me was the mood. The women are thrilled that they don’t have to walk far for water every day, and their plans for the future are exciting. The community is resourceful, progressive and organized to seize opportunity.

This shows you what water can do. Oh, and trachoma, the original reason for the water well? This terrible eye disease has disappeared from Ongata Naado – it is gone, eliminated. The cycle of recurring infection that antibiotics and treatment could not stop has received, you might say, the final nail in its coffin.

I know you’ll agree that this is a wonderful story. But Ongata Naado is only the first of 51 waterpoints in the Narok district where Operation Eyesight began to drill boreholes. Wait until you hear about what happens with the other 50!

And remember – none of this would be happening without the generous support of our donors. So please help us continue this work as we reach into other parts of Africa. Take a look at our Gift Guide to see how you too can help change lives.

The post Ongata Naado – a village transformed (Part 2 of 2) appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

Trachoma, an excruciatingly painful disease and one of the world’s leading causes of unnecessary blindness, used to be widespread in this area. Trachoma is caused by bacterial infection and spreads easily through contact with eye discharge from infected people on hands, towels and clothing and through direct transmission by flies.

Fortunately, Operation Eyesight launched a highly successful trachoma control project in Narok in 2007, based on the World Health Organization’s SAFE strategy. The project included drilling a borehole 270 metres deep to bring clean fresh water to this parched community.

Used not only for drinking, washing faces and preventing trachoma, the water has also had another significant community benefit: it has more than doubled the local student population.

Before the borehole became operational, most girls were unable to attend classes because they had to walk many kilometers each day to fetch water for their families. When we visited Ongata Boarding Primary School, for instance, I was told that in 2006, there were only 270 students, 100 of whom were girls.

Since the centrally-positioned borehole has made long treks for water unnecessary, the school now has an enrolment of 690 students, 300 of whom are girls. The head teacher told me they expect to grow to 1,400 students within the next two years.

While at the school, we were treated to a presentation of the following poem, written in honour of Operation Eyesight by teacher Susan Maranta.

Recited in English by a class of girls, probably between 12 and 14 years old, the poem illustrates the importance of Operation Eyesight’s investment in this community, and its ongoing commitment to addressing the root causes of poverty and blindness.

As you’ll see, the last verse asks for financial support for other community needs. Operation Eyesight works to build the community’s capacity and independence by helping them identify other sources for funding, including community grants available from the government, other NGOs who support education or even their own financial resources through the sale of cattle.

Canaan

This is the day,
The day has come for us to rejoice.
The day of joy and happiness,
The day of expressing our gratitude.
The day is today.

Take me to Canaan,
Mama! Take me to Canaan.
Canaan full of honey and milk
Canaan is where I belong to
Ongata is Canaan.
Papa! Take me to Ongata.

Ongata has become a Canaan
Canaan of books and conducive environment,
Canaan of our nice driver Mr. Naikuni
Canaan of academics by our capable teachers
Canaan of support from our parents
Support from all other well wishers
And above all, our very able water donors.

Our water donors, thank you for giving our school water,
Our donors, thank you for your strong support
Our very able water donors, we still request for more,
Our boys need a dormitory,
We need more water pumped to our dormitory yard kitchen.
We know you can, our donors
We promise to work hard
Never to let your effort down.
Thank you.

Read more about Narok in my earlier blog post, “Water is life in Narok.”

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