By Diane Weatherup | Development Director
Tesfanesh is a 13 year old girl, she is the eldest of four girls. She lives with her parents and three younger sisters in Dana Bulto in southern Ethiopia. As the eldest, she is relied upon to help to look after the younger girls. She is also responsible for many of the household chores, herding cattle and collecting water and firewood.
On top of all this, Tesfanesh attends school, which is what she loves the most. She loves reading and writing. Her teachers encourage Tesfanesh as she has huge potential. They say she is one of the brightest students in the entire school.
Four years ago Tesfanesh was forced to leave schoool and she could no longer read her beloved books.
Her eyes started tearing, it was like she constantly had something in her eye. Over time this sensation worsened and her eye lashes started to turn inward, scratching on her eyeball. This is known as trichiasis, the blinding form of trachoma. Years of repeated infection without treatment leads to a life of excruciating pain and ultimately blindness.
It was impossible to attend school or play with friends or carry out simple household chores. Trachoma is all-consuming. Tesfanesh stayed at home most days because of a fear of sunlight.
The entire family were so worried about Tesfanesh’s eyes: the thought of Tesfanesh losing her sight in such a young age was unbearable. They tried every traditional treatment available, but nothing worked.
One day, Tesfanesh’s parents heard an announcement of an Orbis supported free eye care service. Eye health professionals were coming to one of the health centres in their community. The next day, Tesfanesh’s walked the 5km with her parents to the local health centre.
The Eye Health Worker confirmed that Tesfanesh had been suffering from Trichiasis. Straight away, they conducted surgery on both eyes. A few days later she returned and had the stitches removed.
Following the simple surgery Tesfanesh said “I didn’t see anything except the road on my way to the health centre, but now I see everything and most importantly I am not feeling any pain…I can’t wait to start school again”
Thank you for supporting our project to conduct sight saving surgeries - your support is making a real difference!
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