By Diane Weatherup | Development Director
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.
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