Simple Surgery to restore Sight to Ethiopians

Amina, 52, lives in a one room hut with her two sons and their cattle. Amina suffered repeated infections of trachoma for three years, which eventually led to trichiasis, the blinding form of the disease. Her husband abandoned her when her eye problems began. Throughout Ethiopia, the practice of men having more than one wife is culturally accepted, and if a wife gets sick, they will be abandoned for a new one.  

Three years ago, Amina was healthy and able to conduct her daily activities, but when she started to suffer with repeated trachoma infections, everything became very difficult. Amina’s older son noticed her eye problems; her eyes were swollen and getting worse and worse. At night she could not sleep, due to the pain of her eyelashes scratching her cornea.

One of the reasons why reinfection occurred is the smoke created from cooking inside the hut. Smoke can cause severe damage to the eyes, and most huts do not have chimneys or any kind of ventilation. Sharing the living space with livestock also increases infection rates.

Amina heard about Orbis from a Community Health Agent travelling door-to-door. The Orbis-trained Health Agent immediately recognised that Amina had the blinding form of trachoma and would need surgery immediately before she lost her sight completely.

Amina felt hopeful about regaining her sight, but felt very anxious about the surgery. The surgery was conducted in a local health centre by an Orbis-trained Eye Care Worker. The surgery takes just 20 minutes.

The surgery was a success! Amina can now get back to her normal life and perform all her activities. This also means that her sons are no longer needed on the farm and the younger one, who is only seven, can return to school.

Since the surgery, Amina feels very positive about the benefits of the eye care services established by Orbis. She now understands the pain and poverty that trachoma can bring.

Thank you for supporting this project. Together we will continue to restore sight to those at immediate risk of blindness. 

Daniel, 13, is the eldest child in his family. Since he was 10 he’d been suffering with pain in his eyes and a strong sensitivity to light. After hearing about free eye-care services whilst at the local market, Daniel’s Dad took him to the local Orbis-supported health centre. Daniel was examined and diagnosed with the latter stages of trachoma, where the eyelids turn inwards and the lashes scrape the eyeball, resulting in pain, discomfort and often permanent blindness. Initially Daniel resisted treatment as he was scared and so his situation got worse, forcing him to drop out of school.

With the persuasion of an Orbis-trained community health worker he finally agreed to undergo surgery. His surgery was a success and immediately his thoughts turned to going back to school. He says: “I got my vision back, along with my hope.”

A vision for education:

Because of debilitating eye problems, many children in Ethiopia, like Daniel, find it hard to attend school. Orbis identifies and trains people in local communities, including teachers, to look out for the signs of eye disease. We also support local hospitals with specialist equipment and training to perform sight-saving surgery on children.

By supporting Orbis you are not only saving a child’s sight, you’re also giving them their education and their future back.