Here are some of the memorable mothers we’ve encountered in the past few years. Click on the images to see a bigger version of the photos, or read about their stories and our programs in the places they live.

May 13 is Mother’s Day. It’s not too late to send an eCard to your mom, grandmother or spouse. Celebrate her with an eCard and a meaningful gift that honours her and helps mothers in India and Africa.

An Indian woman cuddles a baby close. (Photo by Peter Carrette.)

Bright eyes: mother and child in a rice field. (Photo by Peter Carrette.)

A Maasai mother and child wait for the village water pump to be turned on. (Photo by Peter Carrette.)

With reliable eye care nearby, this Maasai baby can grow up without the fear of going blind. (Photo by Ric Rowan.)

A big hug in Rasoolpura, India. (Photo by Jo-Lynne Sutherland)

Dinnertime at Nyarkokwaa village in rural Ghana. (Photo by Wairimu Gitahi.)

An African mother carrying her baby on her back. (Photo by Peter Carrette.)

Jerita seeing her granddaughter for the first time after successful cataract surgery. (Photo by Ric Rowan.)

Front row starting from the left: Dr. Beatrice Wiafe, Dr. Maria Hagan - IAPB Co-Chair for West Africa and Chair of the Occasion, Cameron Taylor, and Dr. Boateng Wiafe.

Equally remarkable is how this project was accomplished through friendship between Canadians and Ghanaians. It started some years ago when Operation Eyesight became acquainted with ophthalmologist Dr. Boateng Wiafe. Our original support for Watborg Eye Services grew into an enduring relationship with Bo, leading to his appointment in 2009 as Operation Eyesight’s Regional Director for Africa.

More recently, the Taylor family of Calgary came to learn of Bo’s work, and they agreed to work with him to build something new. Don Taylor is president of Engineered Air, a market leader in heating, ventilation and air conditioning in North America. His son Cameron, who attended the opening, is president of Sherwood International Capital Limited. This family has a deep concern for the people threatened by blindness in Africa, and their generosity was a major factor in the completion of the new Watborg Eye Services facility.

From the left: Dr. Boateng Wiafe, The Paramount Chief of Awutu, Hon. Ama Benyiwa-Doe - The Regional Minister for the Central Region, Cameron Taylor, and Siobhan Thomas.

To put this in perspective, I’d like to quote Pat Ferguson, president and CEO of Operation Eyesight: “The Taylors’ very generous donation for Watborg’s new facilities will strengthen Ghana’s eye care system and ensure those living in the area, regardless of income, have access to the best possible care. Operation Eyesight is focused on building support for sustainable eye health initiatives among threatened populations in Africa and India. For the poor in these countries, visual impairment is more than a disability – it’s a direct threat to life.”

Speaking of Canadians who care about Ghana, we’d also like to thank the Government of Canada which also made a large investment in the project through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Now that the hospital has reached this major milestone, Watborg’s ongoing success will depend upon excellence in day-to-day running. Much of that will fall to the nurses, of which I was one myself once. May 6 to 12 is International Nurses Week – a time to recognize the many contributions that these professionals make in the smooth running of any medical facility. I know Dr. Wiafe would agree with me. Best of luck to them all.

On Wednesday, we opened a brand-new facility to replace the old Watborg Eye Services clinic, which is located in the Awutu Senya District, just outside Ghana’s capital city, Accra. As you can imagine, the completion of a significant capital project like this is cause to celebrate. Finally, after years of planning and months of construction and equipping, this hospital is ready to go.

Dr. Boateng Wiafe is a champion of eyesight who is working to eliminate avoidable blindness in Ghana and other parts of Africa.

From my perspective as vice-president of our International Programs, I can tell you that the original clinic was well used, serving a population of over one million. But it was too small and worn out, and not able to meet the critical needs of these residents. Ghana has a population of 23 million, of which more than 200,000 are blind, mostly from avoidable causes. With increased space, more well-trained doctors and nurses, and the latest equipment, the new facility is going to make a major dent in those statistics, both in the areas of treatment and prevention.

Dr. Boateng Wiafe, the talented surgeon and administrator who directs all our projects in Africa, has been closely associated with Watborg for many years. You can imagine how thrilled he is to finally have better tools to do the job. The hospital is staffed and equipped to treat a wide range of eye problems according to international standards of excellence – offered to all, regardless of their ability to pay. It will also provide training programs, outreach eye screening for school children, and education to increase the awareness of blindness as a major public health issue.

Dr. Isaac Baffoe, optometrist at Watborg examining a patient.

In these and other ways, the Watborg hospital is truly unique, and will serve as a model that can be replicated in other African countries. I know it will have a huge impact on the availability and quality of eye care throughout West Africa.

Dr. Wiafe is pleased with the way the surrounding community was involved in the process, and how it will benefit in many practical ways. Here’s what he had to say:

“The Awutu Senya District is one of the newly created districts in Ghana. The district has some health centres, but the new and expanded Watborg Eye Services is the first eye hospital in the district. Just by opening up this area, we have increased development activities in the area. Besides the construction, Operation Eyesight put in the access road, and brought in water and electricity. So even before the facility has officially opened, it has activated the community.

“We envision this facility will provide quality eye care to the district. Formerly, residents would have to travel long distances to access eye care services, but now this barrier has been removed. The Institute will provide employment for some of the residents in the area. Already, a restaurant has been opened at the junction where the access road joins the highway, and we anticipate some shops and services will open. Taxi services will start coming to the facility, to bring patients.

“The community will also benefit from eye health education. The district director of health has already started using the Institute to train nurses and midwives as well as the volunteers on eye health. This will trickle down to the community so that they will all enjoy healthy eyes.”

Of course, none of this could happen without generous donors. Next week I’d like to tell you about the family from Calgary that made it all possible. We should have some more photos then too. Stay tuned…

As professional capacity increases, Africans are more able to care for one another. (Photo by Wairimu Gitahi.)

Our regional director for Africa, Ghanaian ophthalmologist Dr. Boateng Wiafe, has worked closely with the ministries of health in Zambia, Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana for many years. He and his staff have discovered that such collaboration within existing health systems encourages local leaders to manage their own affairs, while creating models that can be replicated in other regions.

“Operation Eyesight empowers Africans to take care of Africans,” he says.

In her 2009 book, The Challenge for Africa: A New Vision, the late Kenyan activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai wrote, “The challenge for [Africa’s] leaders, both governmental and nongovernmental, is to acknowledge and then channel Africans’ capabilities and energies into effective action for development.”

We believe international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) that choose to support and build on resident expertise can create long-term sustainable solutions that respect and steward the talents and abilities inherent in Africans. Developing countries understand their social and economic challenges and usually have the expertise to solve their own problems. They may only lack sufficient human and financial resources, and that’s where we can help.

Operation Eyesight has had notable success using these strategies. We invite other INGOs to contact us to learn more about our approach to sustainable development.

We have many great stories to share with you about the difference our donors have made in Africa and India… check out Success Stories today!

These are not helpless people. They have many of the tools they need to improve their own systems, except financial and human resources.

With this in mind, Operation Eyesight has committed to working collaboratively with local governments and communities for the long-term health and well-being of the countries and their citizens.

If this Maasai boy and his future descendants are to be free of blinding diseases, his country’s leaders must make good decisions now. Operation Eyesight’s collaborative work with African governments and communities is paying off. Photo by Ric Rowan.

Over our organization’s history, we have chosen to embody the concept of the Declaration of Alma-Ata. This international declaration, signed in 1978, emphasizes the importance of primary health care, which the World Health Organization categorizes as “geared toward self-reliance and self-determination.”

An excerpt from the declaration reads, “The people have the right and duty to participate individually and collectively in the planning and implementation of their health care…. Governments have a responsibility for the health of their people which can be fulfilled only by the provision of adequate health and social measures.”

Rather than sending expatriate medical staff to perform eye surgeries in the four African countries – Ghana, Kenya, Zambia and Rwanda – where we work, Operation Eyesight made a conscious decision to collaborate with local governments and citizens at community, regional and national levels.

We chose to not simply fund cataract surgeries; instead, we manage a comprehensive range of all levels of eye care, from training community workers to building or refurbishing hospital infrastructure.

We collaborate with local public health, water and sanitation departments and with ministries of health. The outcome? Supported, expanded and improved health systems. Such partnerships encourage the ownership and participation of communities, regions and countries that is crucial to sustainable development.

Return next week to learn about our goal for our work in Africa, and its long-reaching implications. Read more in our Winter newsletter about how we work “narrower and deeper” in these countries.

Formerly blind from cataracts, Bernard Simiyu now walks long distances to help others see again. (Photo by Ric Rowan.)

When I was at Kitale Eye Unit, I met Bernard Simiyu, a 61-year old local man who had been a community health worker for four years. He regularly walked great distances, covering a large district of about 50 rural homesteads and checking in with families to identify eye injuries, cataracts and refractive error (the need for prescription eyeglasses), among other medical conditions.

“Bernard and our other community health workers help identify patients for us. We hope to get bicycles to help them in their work,” said Dr. Hillary Rono, referring to the large districts the frontline workers canvass on foot.

Rono, the ophthalmologist at the eye unit, told me that Bernard was one of 32 community health workers in the Greater Trans-Nzoia District. The Ministry of Health trains the workers with support from Operation Eyesight and other NGOs.

If patients don’t live too far from the hospital, the frontline workers can literally lead them to the eye unit, or can use their hospital-sponsored mobile phones to call and arrange for a doctor or clinical officer to visit the rural area.

Bernard himself had been blind from cataracts, and was operated on five years earlier at another Operation Eyesight-supported eye unit at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. His son knew where the Kitale hospital was, and was able to escort him there, so Bernard appreciates the importance of having someone knowledgeable accompany a patient.

He told me, “When you are blind, it’s like being in a hole. You cannot see what’s going on. I was feeling painful when I wasn’t whole, so I decided to help other people to see. Eyes are so important.”

Would you like to help frontline workers like Janice and Bernard? Your gift can help train community health workers in Africa; visit our website to learn how.

Basic eye care is a significant problem in many parts of Africa; in fact, sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest rates of visual impairment and blindness in the world. Poverty, disease and lack of access to eye care all contribute to unnecessary blindness.

Luckily, in many developing countries (including the four African countries where Operation Eyesight works), it is proving remarkably cost-effective to provide frontline workers with basic training in eye health and disease prevention.

Two eye patients meet with Janice Cherono (third from left) and a local community health worker. Photo by Lynne Dulaney.

Public health care workers, schoolteachers, midwives and even traditional healers (many of them local to the districts they serve) are being trained to identify eye problems when interacting with local communities. They then can provide referrals to medical care. This type of community development program is highly effective in identifying health risks.
When I was in Kenya last year, I met some community health workers who are making a significant impact on eye health in their districts.

Janice Cherono is a public health officer, hired through Kenya’s Ministry of Health, who works at Naroosura Eye Clinic, a satellite clinic of Narok District Hospital. Janice supervises 40 community health workers and 25 active volunteers, teaching them to help individuals and communities become aware of all aspects of health, including sanitation, face and hand washing, trachoma prevention and the importance of pit latrines.

The frontline workers report to Janice any health concerns they come across, including trachoma, diarrhoea, malaria and malnutrition. They are equipped to treat minor ailments, and frequently refer severe cases to clinics or hospitals.

“We have face-to-face meetings when we go on outreach trips, and we visit schools to inform children, so they can tell their parents,” Janice told me. “Many people are willing to listen but some are resistant to change. We try to reach the community members who are role models for their community. They are opinion leaders. There is strength in community health workers, but we need assistance to train more.”

Return next week to read Part 2 and learn why one community health worker chooses to walk great distances to help make his community healthier. In the meantime, learn more about community health workers in our Indian programs, too!

Standing room only: audience members appreciated hearing about opportunities for partnerships between companies and non-profit groups. Photo by José Farinha.

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. If you live in the United Kingdom, feel free to get in touch with the Trustees of the new organisation using the contact info here (scroll down,) or consider making a donation today.

You’ve heard the expression “no pain, no gain?” Well, getting the guest speaker from Calgary to London for the launch of Operation Eyesight UK last week was no easy task, but the outcome was well worth it.

In the nick of time, Pat Ferguson arrived in London to deliver her speech. Photo by José Farinha.

The guest speaker I refer to is Pat Ferguson, our president and CEO (Pat authors many of the blog posts you read here in Grey Mist Lifting). The trustees of Operation Eyesight UK had worked hard to bring their new organization to a point where it could be introduced to the world, and Pat was scheduled to give a speech entitled, “Partner for Development to Minimize Risk and Maximise Opportunity.” Hundreds of invitations had been sent, and all the preparations for the March 7 event were in place. We were all excited, knowing that this event signalled a huge step forward in building support for Operation Eyesight throughout the United Kingdom.

As the event’s lead organizer, I considered getting to London to be one of the easier jobs. We just had to get to the airport on time, and get on a plane; how hard could it be?

However, a blizzard arrived in Calgary the afternoon of our departure, and the flight was cancelled. Rebooked for another flight, that one was also cancelled due to mechanical problems. Using our mobile devices, Pat and I began briefing our colleagues in London on what to do if we didn’t arrive. We finally got on a flight that worked, but upon landing, we spent what seemed like an eternity in customs and on the “Tube” to downtown London. When we finally arrived at the event location, the Canadian-UK Chamber of Commerce, it was only with an hour or two to spare.

Brian Foster (left) with trustees Kevin Davidson and Martin Hunt. Photo by José Farinha.

But the adventure was not over. Our flight home was diverted to Keflavik, Iceland due to a passenger who required medical attention – the airline had to make a difficult decision which we fully understood. There we had to stay overnight in what appeared to be a grey and rocky wasteland of a place. However, warm Icelandic hospitality made us feel at home.

Despite the surprises, none of these travel mishaps dulled our anticipation going to London, nor our elation upon leaving with our mission completed. The launch of Operation Eyesight UK was a great success. with more than 100 guests representing the corporate and international development communities. Pat’s speech made a powerful impression and, even now, the trustees are contacting the guests and building relationships that will ultimately bring more awareness and support to bear on the challenge of avoidable blindness.

For Pat and me, the whole experience was a grand adventure that bodes well for the future.

Return next week when Pat Ferguson shares an excerpt from the speech she delivered in London on March 7.

Daniel Franklin (right) worked with the new employees in the classroom and on location in rural villages.

Despite the initial challenges, the workers displayed remarkable courage and determination. What made them persevere, perhaps, was the desire to prove themselves up to the challenge and to make a change within their communities.

The door-to-door surveys were completed on schedule, resulting in almost 332,500 people screened for vision problems throughout the target district. Of these, over 1,800 were identified as having unilateral cataract, over 6,350 with bilateral cataract and over 1,400 persons completely blind.

Today, these women travel many kilometres every week organizing eye screening programs, conducting health promotion events, counselling patients for surgery and following up with patients who have undergone surgery. They also network with staff from other NGOs and government departments in the area to promote immunisation, life skills and mother/child health care.

I find these women workers to be effective in counselling people who require treatment at the hospital. They communicate knowledgably about a range of issues from family planning to child health, and from nutrition to sanitation. Much of this they learned during the training phase, but they also passed on useful lessons and practices from their own lives and helped their immediate family members to follow suit. All of this has contributed to their effectiveness in helping the people they work to adopt good eye health seeking behaviour.

A community health worker in action with a group of village women.

This initial hospital-based community eye care program is now in its third year, and the success of the women workers tests the traditional notion that only men should go out and work. But more importantly, these women have made a significant difference in the lives of thousands of people in the target communities. Thanks to them, over 3,100 people with serious eye problems have received eye surgery and almost 1,520 people with refractive error have received eye glasses.

The benefits of the program are many. The community workers receive recognition from the people they serve, which drives them to perform better. These women are welcomed everywhere, such as local festivals, and people come to their houses for advice. More importantly, they are respected by their immediate family members – especially by their husbands.

The success of the community health workers has encouraged Operation Eyesight to expand the program and recruit women for our other project locations. Today we have over 100 female community health workers for rural areas, from West Bengal to Rajasthan and from Himachal Pradesh to Kerala. We appreciate the role they play in our quest to eliminate avoidable blindness.

Learn more about these community health workers. Read about the challenges of bringing eye care to remote areas around Kothamangalam in southern India.