Seva Canada: A Solution in Sight

Dr. Larry Brilliant, one of the founders of Seva, has left his position as the director or Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org and will now oversee the “Skoll Urgent Threats Fund” established by eBay co-founder Jeff Skoll. The Skoll Foundation issued a press release about Dr. Brilliant’s appointment on April 14, 2009.

Dr. Brilliant is an American physician, epidemiologist, technologist, author and philanthropist. From 1973 to 1976 he participated in the successful World Health Organization (WHO) smallpox eradication program. Following the successful eradication of smallpox, Dr. Brilliant and others came together to form Seva in an effort to reduce human suffering.

Seva means “service” in Sanskrit and the eclectic group of doctors and others decided to focus their compassion in action on the issue of preventable and treatable blindness. Prior to joining Google.org, Dr. Brilliant was the Executive Director of Seva Foundation, Seva Canada‘s sister organization in Berkeley, CA. Seva now works in 7 countries – Nepal, Tibet, India, Tanzania, Guatemala, Cambodia and Egypt — to create sustainable eye-care programs, to restore sight and prevent blindness.

According to the Skoll Foundation’s press release, “Brilliant will focus the new organization, the Skoll Urgent Threats Fund, on identifying and supporting innovative high-impact initiatives to combat climate change, water scarcity, pandemics, nuclear proliferation and Middle East conflict.”

With the swine flu threat growing daily, Dr. Brilliant will be an extremely busy man. Everyone at Seva Canada congratulates Larry on his new post and wishes him the very best.

Accepting the 2006 TED Prize, Dr. Larry Brilliant talked about how smallpox was eradicated from the planet, and called for a new global system that can identify and contain pandemics before they spread.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNhiHf84P9c]

Seva’s logo is the Buddha Eyes, also known as Wisdom Eyes, which are painted on virtually every stupa or Buddhist shrine in Nepal. These eyes look out in the four directions to symbolize the omniscience or all-seeing nature of a Buddha. Although Seva is not a religious organization, we believe in compassion in action. Our logo was derived in part from the fact that Nepal was the first country where Seva started working to restore sight and prevent blindness over 30 years ago.

Between the Buddha’s eyes where the nose would be is a curly symbol that looks like question mark. This is the Nepali character for the number 1, which symbolizes unity of all things as well as the one way to reach enlightenment—through the Buddha’s teachings. Above this is a third eye, symbolizing the all-seeing wisdom of the Buddha.

The word seva means “service” in Sanskrit. The founding of Seva was inspired by the global eradication of smallpox that took place in the mid-1970s. Seva founders who were involved in that global effort wrote, “The eradication of smallpox from the world is tangible proof that many forms of suffering can be lifted from the shoulders of the poor and oppressed.”

Seva’s vision is the elimination of preventable and treatable blindness. Although many thought that the eradication of smallpox was impossible, it became a reality. With your support, we will achieve our vision of a world in which no one suffers from blindness that could be prevented or treated.

Join us and visit www.seva.ca

1. Rubbing eyes, blinking excessively
2. Squinting or covering one eye
3. Holding a book close to the face
4. Losing his or her place while reading
5. Headaches, nausea and dizziness
6. Excessive clumsiness
7. Tilting the head to one side
8. Frequently day dreaming
9. Using a finger to read
10. Performing below potential

Although newborns are able to see, vision improves and develops over time as the use of the eyes increases. For proper vision to develop, it is vital that there is a sharp image on the retina. It is very important that children receive proper eye care and that any problems are addressed quickly. All of Seva Canada’s programs place emphasis on reaching children, even in remote areas, and ensuring that they get care. Click here to join us and save a child from a lifetime of blindness.

Thank you to Granville EYELAND for these 10 tips.

Thank you to everyone who came out and supported Seva and made our second fundraising event a roaring success. There was a full house and $779 was raised for Seva’s sight programs — $710 at the door and $69 through Paperblank book sales.

Thank you to Seva board members, Nancy Mortifee and Abdul Pirbhai, who came and helped out. It was wonderful for us to meet so many donors and to have a chance to visit.

Seva would like to extend our deepest thanks to Mustafa, Zamir and all the staff, cooks and musicians at Chai for their kindness and generosity in making this monthly fundraiser for Seva such a great, fun event. Also our thanks to Hartley & Marks Publishers for the generous donation of Paperblank journals which Seva sells at half-price to raise funds for our blindness prevention programs in the developing world.

Join us on the second Wednesday of each month at the Chai Gallery, 3243 West Broadway, between Trutch and Blenheim (above East is East). Mark your calendars today for the next Seva benefit – May 13th 2009.

Blog by Justine Spencer

Earlier this year, I had the privilege of accompanying my father, Dr. Martin Spencer, on his trip to Nepal and Cambodia. In Nepal we visited many cities where Seva supports eye care hospitals and centers: Kathmandu, Tansen, Baratpur, Butwal, Parosi, and Lumbini Eye Institute in Bhairahawa, to name a few.

As a 20-year-old university student, I don’t have any expertise to offer the program and I didn’t come in with much knowledge of how an NGO is run. After attending many meetings and seeing with my own eyes how the programs work, I began to understand. Along with the understanding, came a deep respect and admiration for Seva and its mission. I always knew Seva was doing good work, but its one thing to know and quite another to feel.

At every hospital we visited, my father was greeted not simply as an ophthalmologist who had worked with them 12 years previous, but as a friend. Although it was more than that — they revered him! He was offered not only hugs and handshakes, but gifts and garlands of fragrant magnolias that were placed around his neck with a beaming smile. The training he had offered the local hospital staff so many years ago have had profound effects on the program, and they were understandably appreciative.

Sometimes it’s hard to look past the big picture of Seva’s amazing projects and undertakings. But I think it’s important to remember that it all comes down to the patients. Every patient has a story. The stories are unique, but there are trends I observed among patients that are hard to miss: many arrive blind and, as a result, expressionless. Their interactions are cold. The next day they can see and it’s the closest thing I’ve witnessed to a miracle. They are suddenly glowing with warmth and overflowing with emotion: joy, gratitude, relief, and all areas in between. I can’t imagine what that would feel like, but I feel very fortunate to have been able to see this happen, to feel it.

I also feel fortunate to have been able to interview some patients and hear their stories. It is the best way I can communicate to the rest of the world how it feels to witness this miracle.

Justine Spencer with Mr. RP Kandel of Seva Nepal, interviewing a cataract patient prior to her surgery

A huge thank you to Shelagh Smith, Rob McClure and all the people in Whitehorse who made last night’s fundraiser for Seva Canada (www.seva.ca) a big success. About 80 people attended and raised $1,000 for the Kham Eye Centre in Dartsedo.

Tibet has the highest rate of blindness in the world. Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in the Kham region, as it is in other Tibetan regions. Cataracts can be removed, and sight restored, with a relatively simple and highly cost-effective operation costing about $50, yet the cataract surgical coverage in the area is just 40%; 60% of patients remain untreated. Seva is trying to change this.

A 50-bed eye hospital, the Kham Eye Center, is currently being built in Dartsedo and will open in 2009. The Kham Eye Center will be a non-profit eye care institution specializing in clinical services, research, teaching and prevention and treatment of eye disease. Seva is funding human resource development, technical and managerial mentorship, and provision of ophthalmic equipment, instruments and supplies. The Kham Eye Care Center will have a multitiered pricing system to make the eye care more affordable and accessible to all patients in the community. The ultimate goal of the Kham Eye Center is to build a high-quality, sustainable, accessible, affordable eye care system.

It’s pretty amazing to think that for the price of a condo in Vancouver (even after the slump), you can equip an entire hospital, train the staff, help set up 10 vision centers and provide medical materials and surgical supplies for 4 years. Cost: $825,000. Gifts of sight for thousands of Tibetans for generations to come: priceless!

The goals are:
- to conduct a minimum of 14,000 cataract sight restoring surgeries over the next 5 years;
- to establish 10 vision centers by 2010;
- to train 10 eye doctors and 10 county level nurses;
- to establish the Center as a standard national eye hospital, using state-of-the-art technology;
- to become the model eye care program in the Kham region;
- to become an eye care training center;
- and to develop as a community ophthalmology center.

Thanks again to all the folks in Whitehorse for your generosity and compassion.

Grateful Tibetan patients at a Seva eye camp in 2008

12-year-old Estefany was bullied because she had two eye conditions – strabismus (squint) and ptosis (drooping of the eyelid).

She lives in a two-room wooden house in San Jose Pinula, Guatemala with her three brothers, father and stepmother.

Her father, a farmer, makes less than $8 a day and her stepmother, a maid, who makes even less. They were unable to afford treatment for Estefany at one of the clinics they approached.

Then they found Visualiza, Seva’s partner in Guatemala, in December 2008. Estefany had first surgery in February 2009 for strabismus and the next week she had surgery for the ptosis. The surgeries have helped Estefany greatly and she has not had to deal with the pain of being called “ugly”. She does much better with her school work and has great visual acuity. Her beautiful smile speaks volumes.

Before surgery

Estefany after eye surgery

To learn more about Seva’s work in Guatemala and how you can help, visit http://www.seva.ca/sevainguatemala.htm

Yesterday we received this very moving story from Guatemala:

Fidelia Silverste Fajardo, age 84, began to lose her vision 20 years ago, making it nearly impossible for her to do her daily activities at home like cooking for her five family members and cleaning the house. Fidelia lives with her family in the town of San Jose which is a few miles from the Mercado Municipal. One of the consequences of her vision loss was a bad fall that caused her to fracture both hips. With little sight and the inability to walk, she was limited to a wheelchair. Fidelia thought that her life was over being bound to a wheelchair and unable to see. She felt useless because she could no longer contribute to her family. In Guatemala, the working poor work and contribute to their families till the day they die. Without a purpose Fidelia was starting to lose hope. Also, Fidelia’s family was beginning to struggle to care for her. Someone had to stay home from work to take care of her. This meant a loss in one person’s wages. This was a loss that the family, which was already struggling, could not afford. Then a member of her family found out about Seva’s partner, Visualiza, where Fidelia was diagnosed with cataracts resulting in light perception visual acuity in both eyes.

She had surgery on her right eye first on February 12, 2009 and she received an operation to her left eye on February 26, 2009. After the second surgery she told the doctors, “I am so happy that I can see again and little by little I am able to walk. I am able to cook and serve my family. I thank you so much and do not know how to pay you. May God bless you for helping me!”

Fidelia Silverste Fajardo, age 84, after both cataract surgeries

Last weekend on Gabriola, a tree blew down in a violent windstorm and blocked our driveway. An anonymous neighbour saw the tree in the early morning and took the time and effort to buck it up with a chainsaw so that it could be easily moved and we could get out of the drive. This selfless act of service has made me happy all week and has caused me to reflect on the idea of service or seva.

Seva is a Sanskrit word that means service. Seva (www.seva.ca) got its name from an amazing group of people who came together to alleviate the suffering in the world.

Many of Seva’s founders had served together in India in the program to eradicate smallpox. As Ram Dass has noted in his book “Compassion in Action”, this was no small undertaking. It required the collaboration of 35 countries, 2 billion housecalls, the latest technology in vaccines and logistics, and “incredible determination rooted in the faith that such an objective was realizable”.

That spirit of service still exists at Seva, as does the determination to eradicate preventable blindness and to alleviate human suffering.