Unique stories to inspire everyone to #LOVEYOUREYES

Stoic and silent, Paul, 90, sits in the van en route to City Eye Hospital. He’s scheduled for free sight-restoring surgery supported by Cure Blindness Project. It’d been three years since he’d been able to see his children’s faces. He desperately wants the surgery but he is afraid.  

If anyone understands the fear and isolation of being blind, it’s Stevenson. He’d been unable to see until recently. City Eye Hospital in Nyeri, Kenya performed cataract surgery on his left eye. He is returning to the hospital to have his right eye corrected.   

“Since I was helped, I want to help others,” explains Stevenson, 82.  

Stevenson assigns himself in charge of Paul’s care: holding his hand and leading him to the pre-op testing stations, sitting beside him as they wait.  

Stevenson enters the operating theater first. Twenty minutes later he’s done. Paul waits patiently for his turn.   

“The doctors will fix you,” Stevenson says, gently patting Paul’s back. “There is nothing to be afraid of. Tomorrow when we can see again, we dance.”  

As promised, there is dancing. And a little singing. The two celebrate together and staff members join in. It’s difficult not to dance when joy fills the room. 

I was part of a team conducting school vision screening at various schools within driving distance of our base for 2 weeks at Makeni, in Sierra Leone. On this day we were visiting Mayolor town about 14km away. We screened 274 children and 52 adults on this day, which included most of the teachers. On arrival at each school we would meet with the headmaster and senior teachers and explain our need for suitable buildings to undertake the screening process. Inevitably this entailed rearranging one or two classrooms to suit our needs. One for carrying out the initial vision and eye health checks and another for performing a sight examination for those referred from the screening process. The image depicts one of the children having his vision checked using an E chart. It is not obvious in the photo but he has covered his left eye with a cupped hand and so we are checking how far down he can correctly identify the tumbling E letter orientation. By pointing his free hand up, down, to the left or right it becomes a very quick and accurate method of confirming an individuals unaided sight. In this case you may notice that some of his classmates have started to laugh. This is because he was the first child in the class to easily get to the bottom line with no effort, and all his friends were amazed at how confident he was.

I was volunteering on my 19th eye care project, most of them using my Optometry expertise with the UK charity Vision Aid Overseas. Increasingly I have balanced the Optometry aspects of the trips with taking images to highlight this much needed work. It is great to know that for at least some individuals we have been able to help. Good sight means finishing school, it means seeing well enough to mark homework, to count money at the market, to see your grand children properly. We should all have the right to sight and the means to have it assessed wherever we may live in the world. 

What is it about this image that you love? 

It is a picture of a couple from a very rural area in Timor-Leste after Cataract surgery on their both eyes. What I love the most is their smiles when they know that everything was going well, and there is hope for them to see again.  

Do you remember anything about the subject? For example, were the patients shy to have their pictures taken, funny, curious? From memory, these two are husband and wife. Do you remember anything about them, their bond? 

Well, actually I was planning to take their picture after the surgery, because it is rare to see a couple together come for operation. It was a little bit funny, because a lady was shy to be hugged by her husband and didn’t want to take photo. We took many photos, but this photo was good in comparison with others.  

This couple live in a village far away from the capital. They live alone by themselves in a small house. Once their relative came to visit and found that they couldn’t see. For this purpose, their relative brought them to the eye clinic in the capital for further consultation and treatment.  

Do you recall anything about the location on that day? For example, was the hospital busy? What was happening behind the scenes? 

Eye clinic is the only eyes services available in the country. So, all  of cases come to eye clinic. On that day, there were a lot of patients for consultation. One of the Eyecare nurse in the clinic came to inform me that there was a couple with bilateral hypermature cataract and need for consultation. They came on Friday morning. After the examination and investigation done, I planned for bilateral SICS in one session for both. I explained about the pre-op, intra-op and post-op procedures and also self-care after the operation to the relative. The couple was afraid in the beginning but accepted for operation after a detailed explanation about the benefit after the operation. After their acceptance, I straight plan for the surgery the next Monday. And at the next day, they both were very happy because after years, they can see again.  

What about shooting this project did you find interesting? For example, the sheer need for eye care services? 

It was interesting to shoot this project. At the same time, we used the photo to encourage those people in rural area to come for eye consultation. Because there is still lack of knowledges of people about eye health and many of them still afraid to get operated their cataracts. And I do believe that in the next few years, the quality of the eye health services in Timor-Leste will be better.  

Photographer Neil:

"I like the fact that we were shown that classroom…at random…and it was full for students, and from the doorway where I took the photo there was a direct line of sight to her, and I think that not only was she the only one wearing glasses but she was perfectly framed in the classroom for the subsequent photo. We didn’t have to position her, light her or create the composition…it was totally natural. Serendipitous. 

She had a lovely smile. She looked at us at first as did all the others, and then whilst I fiddled with the camera and took some test shots everyone just carried on listening to the teacher and then when we were ready I just waved at her and smiled and she smiled back…and then I took the photo. Again, she was totally natural and seemed very mature.  

We had just come from a large eye clinic and brought to the school just to get see if we could get some shots. Our goal was to find some students and choreograph a shot with them, ask them some questions etc. It was a large school and we arrived 10 minutes before their break…lunch I think…so in fact the only thing we achieved with the visit was this scene. No children were being screened at the time…I think it was a “let’s see what we find” kind of location. 

I was there with a couple of representatives from Operation Eyesight, and my cameraman colleague, Miguel Gutierrez, and we both had cameras. We met someone from the school who looked into a couple of classrooms and let us in. We had about 5 minutes before the bell went off for lunch so we just looked in the first classroom, stood close to the doorway and this is what we got.  

For this project we filmed in Kenya and India. We filmed the young and the old…the most vulnerable groups of course. I was particularly struck by the important role that children have in educating and supporting their families. In countries like Canada we tend to consider healthy eyesight as primarily a benefit to the recipient only….”you need glasses”…so I ensure my children have can study properly and enjoy life like everyone else.  

But in places where Operation Eyesight operates, having healthy vision in children has immediate societal benefits because the children play an important role in the family and community.  

They work around the house, in the yard, they feed the animals or help out in the fields. They go for food, and they care for the elders in multi-generational households. In Kenya, where trachoma is a big problem, the children learn about clean water and they go home and educate THEIR parents on the importance of clean water. The young are literally the teachers. 

So the community-led initiatives that we filmed, and the “hand-up, not hand-out’ approach of organizations like Operation Eyesight was extraordinary to film. These are huge community efforts (and communal living in these countries involves far more inter-dependence then here), and there was genuine pride at all levels when a cataract operation succeeded, or when a child got glasses. Because now these people were no longer burdens that needed constant help. They could now contribute. It’s literally a 100% reversal in fortune for the the person, their families and the community. "

Kasturi Bishi, 64, lives with her husband in a small village in Odisha, India. The couple worked as blacksmiths, making and selling iron tools to earn a simple living. Their routine fell apart when Kasturi began losing her vision to cataracts. She couldn’t work, and her husband stayed home to care for her. With no income, treatment felt impossible. 
 
Hope came when they heard about a free eye screening camp supported by Trilochan Netralaya and Cure Blindness Project. There, she was identified with mature cataracts in both eyes and referred to Trilochan Netralaya for surgery. 
 
With quiet courage, Kasturi underwent the procedure—free of cost, with support from Cure Blindness Project. Today, she can see clearly again. She’s back to work, back on her feet, and filled with joy and gratitude.

Mamite Tukuli, 45, sought out eye care to restore her daughter’s sight. Kortu, 10, lost her vision in both eyes to cataracts. Mamite also suffered from cataract blindness. “I wasn't worried about my own eye," she confessed, "At least I could see with one. But I worried constantly about my little girl." 
 
In a household where Mamite's husband had multiple wives and over twenty children, resources and attention were stretched thin. Mamite felt helpless, watching her daughter's future slip away. Kortu, too young to attend school, relied on her siblings for even the simplest tasks, often stumbling and falling in darkness.  

One day, hope arrived in the form of a passing car speaker announcing free treatment, including transportation, accommodation, and food.   
 
"I was so sad about my daughter's future. She hadn't started school; she couldn't do anything by herself. Her sisters and brothers helped her go to the toilet, and she fell on the ground so many times. We were all so sad, and we didn't know what to do." 
 
Free surgery at a Cure Blindness Project-supported outreach restored sight to both mother and daughter. "She couldn't smile within these two years," Mamite exclaimed, her own face radiant with happiness. "Now she is smiling! Thanks God and all the doctors here. We both can see now!" 

Aldeia em Foco is a non-profit born from attentive listening and transformative action in response to the challenges indigenous populations face in accessing eye care in Brazil.

Its origins trace back to an initiative by the Suel Abujamra Institute (ISA), a traditional partner of the SUS, which aimed to provide ophthalmological care to over 1,500 indigenous people in a remote community in the country’s interior. However, due to logistical limitations and difficult access to the region, the mission concluded frustratingly: only just over 300 indigenous people were treated.

Caio Abujamra, ISA's president understood that a solution rooted in the reality of indigenous peoples  required closer listening, an adapted methodology and a structure designed to bring health to the heart of the forest.

Thus, Aldeia em Foco was born initially a pioneering project within ISA, it is now an independent NGO with its own identity and transformative mission. Co-financed by ISA, BID LAB in partnership with the Government of Japan, and the L'Occitane Foundation, the project uses cutting-edge portable equipment, AI and teleophthalmology to provide quality eye care to Brazil’s most isolated regions.

More than a project is a movement of respect, reparation, and hope for the future.

Stephanie was only six months old when her mother, Irene, discovered that she could barely see. From that point on, it became a fierce battle to give her daughter the “blessing” of sight. As a cleaning assistant, Irene went from doctor to doctor in search of a solution for the congenital cataract that clouded her daughter’s eyes. She tried in Teresina (PI), Fortaleza, and São Paulo. She couldn’t afford the surgery. That´s when the Suel Abujamra Institute crossed Sthefany’s path.

“Thanks to God and the institute, to get my daughter’s surgery for free, and today she is studying and dreaming of getting a good job and a better life,” says Irene. Sthefany had surgery at 13 and is now 17, attending the 8th grade of elementary school.

The first years at school were difficult. “She couldn’t keep up with her classmates and became depressed, staying in her room because she suffered a lot of bullying,” recalls her mother. The condition is genetic and has already affected three people in the father’s family.

Now, Stephanie will receive free treatment for her strabismus. Irene has already scheduled pre-operative exams at the Suel Abujamra hospital.

Fatima Zehra is a program management professional with over a decade of experience in eye health, human resource development, and disability-inclusive healthcare. She has been instrumental in strengthening health systems through strategic planning, policy development, and innovative program implementation, ensuring equitable and sustainable healthcare for marginalized communities.

She has led high-impact initiatives in collaboration with governments, international NGOs, and healthcare organizations, improving access to quality eye care for millions of people in underserved regions. An optometrist with a Master’s in Project Management, she also holds specialized training in Global Eye Health and Planning and Managing Eye Care Services from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. As a national master trainer for Inclusive Eye Health and Safeguarding in Pakistan, she has played a pivotal role in strengthening the health workforce and promoting disability-inclusive practices.

She has contributed to the development of Pakistan’s national allied visual sciences curriculum and an Inclusive Eye Health module. Her expertise in trachoma mapping, service assessments, and participatory evaluations was instrumental in Pakistan being declared trachoma-free by WHO in 2024.

Her contributions have earned global recognition, including the Eye Health Hero Award (2020) and the Young Systems Leader Award (2024) from the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB).