When Darrel was nine months old, his mother Beatrice noticed a problem with her baby’s eyes. They were always filled with tears and looked sore and red. Darrel’s irises also appeared larger than usual, and he had trouble focusing on objects.

Worried, Beatrice took her son to a local health centre. The doctor referred Darrel to a hospital near Nairobi, which in turn referred him to a pediatric eye unit. There, Beatrice learned that Darrel had glaucoma, a disease that damages the optic nerve because of high eye pressure.

“I was shocked to learn this condition would gradually make Darrel blind,” Beatrice told our staff. “I wanted so badly to have him treated, but it was very difficult because of our financial situation.”

Beatrice also worried that if her son became blind, she would need to take care of him for the rest of his life. “My prayer was that my child could grow up and live an independent life.”

Fortunately, our Kenya team met Beatrice during the 2015 Standard Chartered Bank Nairobi Marathon. As a proud member of the bank’s Seeing is Believing funding initiative, Operation Eyesight had a booth to promote eye health awareness at the marathon.

Today, Beatrice is very happy! “The doctors have assured me that Darrel’s condition has been contained and will not worsen anymore. I’m sure he will grow to fulfill the dreams we have for him!” She and her family are grateful to everyone who ensured that her baby’s vision was saved.

She also has a message for our donors: “I appreciate the generosity of those who donated their money so that children like my son are treated free of charge. You know that operations are very costly and therefore unaffordable to low income earners. May God bless you abundantly!”

You can help us give the gift of sight to more children like Darrell. Please consider making a donation to help provide the medicine and supplies needed to treat causes of avoidable blindness. Thank you for your support!

The post Your support helps children see! appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

Operation Eyesight believes that partnerships between corporations and development organisations can pay higher dividends and help both entities achieve their ambitions.

You’ve probably seen negative headlines in the media about failed aid. However, they do not take into account the multiple intents behind the large pot of money referred to in these intimidating news reports.

Aid can refer to many different kinds of financial support and can include humanitarian assistance in the face of national disasters such as tsunamis, famines, or the effects of civil war. This type of aid is a critical response in times of need, and greatly appreciated by governments. But it is not development.

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Where there is a real commitment to sustainable development, it becomes possible for organisations like Operation Eyesight to achieve measurable and lasting results with donor funds – especially if the scale of the project is manageable and the stakeholders represent key government representatives and community grassroots organisations. In fact, we can invest your development funds to play a catalytic role that will support change and progress, without undermining institutional development.

Operation Eyesight manages the risk in international development by using a number of criteria and strategies. For instance, we select countries that have relatively stable governments and are not involved in ongoing conflict. We require stability to engage the necessary stakeholders from government officials to community leaders; we need to plan collaboratively, implement, follow-up and make adjustments.

It is important to know that developing countries do understand their social and economic challenges and usually have the expertise to solve their own problems. But they may not have sufficient human and financial resources.

Operation Eyesight does not impose western solutions or use Canadian medical expertise or expatriate staff. We rely on in-country expertise like the world renowned LV Prasad Eye Institute in India as well as African authorities on development and eye care. We believe in capitalising on their knowledge of local issues and expertise in identifying solutions as well as their contacts in-country, from senior elected and government officials to community leaders.

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Standard Chartered Bank is an example of a corporation that supports the development of eye care in low income countries where they have business interests.

Through its Seeing is Believing (SIB) global initiative, the bank engages its employees in fundraising and matches every gift. To date they have raised almost $40M and have a goal to reach $100M by 2020. You can see the value proposition to the corporation and the community in a number of projects.

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In Kenya, the Area General Manager of Standard Chartered Bank supports an annual marathon where proceeds are donated to community initiatives including eye care. The marathon and its charitable objectives are well known in Kenya. Again, the good will generated by this social enterprise is considerable.

In India, Operation Eyesight partners with Standard Chartered Bank to promote eye health and provide eye care in slum communities. We are fortunate to have a number of bank staff with us this evening.

Here’s another example [of a corporation’s social responsibility]. In Zambia, Operation Eyesight is partnering with the Ministry of Health and a steel company from India to construct an eye clinic at the University Teaching Hospital, located in the capital city of Lusaka. This is a market entry strategy that will give the steel company solid public and government recognition in a country where unnecessary blindness and weak health care systems are barriers to social and economic development. The company has the priority naming opportunity on the new clinic.

From Australia, the foundation of the Lonely Planet Books is supporting the cost of water points or boreholes in the Maasai Mara in Kenya. PixiFoto, a photography corporation also out of Australia, is doing the same in Zambia. Both are having a dramatic impact on marginalised communities.

For more about the launch of Operation Eyesight UK, read last week’s post by Brian Foster. 

The post Companies have a role to play in social investment appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

I live in Canada where health care is good, but I know that many who live in developing nations are not as fortunate. For example, in the African country of Ghana, there are districts where only 10 to 30 percent of the population has access to reliable eye care of any kind. Imagine having an eye injury and not being able to do anything about it!

This is a huge problem in sub-Saharan Africa and the reasons are many. They include poorly equipped facilities, physicians who are not fully trained in eye health and lack of understanding among the people.

For years, Operation Eyesight has been working hard to help correct these problems, but we can’t do it alone. Thankfully, we found a good friend in Standard Chartered Bank.

The leaders of this company are deeply concerned about health issues, including eye health, and they created a funding program called Seeing is Believing. Money from this program is currently supporting Operation Eyesight’s work in 20 districts throughout Ghana focused on medical training, equipment and general awareness of eye health.

The Standard Chartered Bank team in Ghana along with the Operation Eyesight staff came up with the term RB2QE which means “reducing barriers to quality eye care” – this is the key to eliminating avoidable blindness.

RB2QE drives the latest phase of the Seeing is Believing project which was launched this past June in Accra, Ghana. The Ghana Ministry of Health is another vital partner, and the government officials I met are enthusiastic about the potential to save the sight of thousands of their most vulnerable people.

Once back home in Calgary I phoned to book that eye appointment – no problem. And this week I will take the short ride to the optometrist and be assured of a comprehensive, high quality exam. This is exactly what everyone should have, no matter where they live. This is the kind of future that Operation Eyesight envisions, and working with groups like Standard Chartered Bank, national governments and supporters like you, it will happen.

The post For us, it’s easy to get an eye exam appeared first on Operation Eyesight.