Seva Canada: A Solution in Sight

Imagine if you were blind from cataracts and lived in a village deep in the Himalayan region of Tibet. The world has gone dark. You can no longer see faces of loved ones. You have no way to cook or feed yourself. There are no seeing eye dogs, beeping crosswalks, or eye surgeons to help you.

Tibetan landscape. Photo courtesy of Gary Hahn

In Tibet’s under-served mountainous region, seeing an eye doctor would have likely meant a multi-day trek to Lhasa. It would cost you many months salary pay to have cataracts removed. For too many, this means a mother, father, grandparent, or even child could not have cataracts removed and would remain blind.

Since the beginning, Seva has already tried to help the most vulnerable and has reached out to remote areas where there is no care. Now, in Tibet, people needing eye care but who have no way to travel to get it, can take Seva’s new bus on the Roof of the World!

Seva's new bus in Tibet which transports blind people to and from hospital

This bus will travel to remote mountain villages, picking up blind patients and transporting them, free of charge, to a hospital in the city of Lhasa staffed by local Seva trained eye surgeons. There they will have cataracts removed and their vision restored! And after they have had their sight checked and all their post-operative care, they will be transported back to their villages. A magic bus!

Thanks to Seva’s generous donors like you, this bus will help us better reach the underserved and restore sight.

The following is a special post by Laura Spencer, a Seva volunteer:

I have been privileged to work with Seva projects in Guatemala that have been developed by amazing Seva staff. The highlight so far has been Seva’s three-day eye care outreach excursion to isolated villages, reaching indigenous Guatemalans who had never received eye care services before!

Seva eye camps - a joyful thing to witness

The three-day eye camp was funded and organized by Seva, with community development links made between the eye hospital – Vincent Pescadore in the northern region of Guatemala – and the community health promoters in various villages.

A crew of six Guatemalan eye clinic workers from Vincent Pescadore and I made the journey into the hot jungles of Guatemala’s mountainous central region. We ventured off with supplies of glasses, instruments and charts. After a four-hour drive, we arrived in Coban, the nearest town.

Outside of Coban, we transported ourselves and the supplies into a pick-up truck along with some local villagers. We made the slow, bumpy ride along the uneven, rocky road through mountains of corn and coffee fields to the community of Chilten.

The road was long, with a broken down van on the way holding us up. The difficulty in reaching the community was a testament to the difficulty the people have in reaching services on their own. Many of them had trekked even further from Chilten, from surrounding villages even deeper in the mountains.

Hundreds of people lining up to be seen at the 3-day Seva eye camp in the remote village of Chilten, Guatemala. Photo by Laura Spencer

An hour and a half later, we arrived! Over 500 people were waiting in line to receive eye care. Excitement was in the air! The eye camp was set up in a school and the children were given the day off. As a result, they were either getting their eyes checked or running around adding to the excitement!

The organizing staff quickly set up six stations for smooth service delivery. They included an area for registration, for a visual acuity exam, a consultation with the optometrist, a meeting room for cataract patients, and another location for dispensing eye glasses.

A Guatemalan ophthalmologist examines patients at the Seva eye camp in the mountainous central region of Guatemala. Photo by Laura Spencer

For patients in need of cataract surgeries, transportation to Vincent Pescadore, food, and accommodation were free of charge. Those in need of glasses were provided with them at low cost or free of charge. It is such an amazing opportunity for these people and it was priceless for me to see the people’s faces as they went through the emotions of being offered free surgery and eye care.

Seva was one of the supporters, having developed the community link between the health promoters and the hospital Vincent Pescadore. The local volunteers were an integral part of the process, acting as translators for the hundreds of indigenous people who could not speak Spanish, but the Mayan language Quechi.

The first day was a great success! Thirty cataract patients were driven the 5 hours and back with free food, board and surgeries fully paid for by Seva and partners.

Cataract patients at the Seva eye camp in Guatemala being given free transportation to the hospital for surgery. Photo by Laura Spencer

My personal contribution has been conducting research for my MA on why so few rural women are taking advantage of free surgeries, as is also the case in most developing countries. With the help from volunteers with translating, I surveyed or interviewed over 80 women over the course of the weekend, collecting information regarding the barriers to service for themselves and with regard to the women in need of eye care who were not present. I also enjoyed the company of the local children who were running around the school and waiting for me to finish interviewing their mothers and grandmothers!

Interviewing Guatemalan women at the eye camp with support from a young friend!

The second and third day we drove a few hours more to another village, meeting the needs of the other surrounding communities. More free surgeries and eye care services were delivered and received.

Just before leaving the last eye camp, a truckload of the first patients from two days before arrived. They were returning from the northern clinic where their surgeries were conducted by Guatemalan surgeons. Their post-operative eyes were healing behind their large, protective sunglasses. Accompanied by the community volunteers, they made their way home, with new hope for survival, with the ability to contribute to their family again and with an increased quality of life.

The first cataract patients returning from hospital after their sight-restoring surgeries. Photo by Laura Spencer

The six of us made the four-hour trip back to the northern eye clinic which is located in the largest, poorest and most secluded province of Guatemala, El Peten. Once we arrived, the patients from the same day and the others from the day before were either waiting for their surgery or waiting a day to have a post-operative examination. Whether through translation or directly in Spanish, the patients shared their fears and excited anticipation of their restored vision.

I will remember well many of the patients. In particular, I will remember one man who said to me, “Vision is the most important thing. Without it, all is painful.” Another patient, an older woman in traditional dress, will remain in my memory because of her smile. She smiled throughout the whole experience, which is unusual for the culture (but she would not smile for the camera, more common for the culture!). I was honoured to see her through the whole process: from the line-up for services, the waiting room for cataract care, on the bus up to the northern clinic, before, during and after surgery, at meals in the hospital and finally to see her off as she got on the minivan back to her village.

One of 500 Guatemala patients who received eye care at the 3-day eye camp. Photo by Laura Spencer

Thank you to all the donors, sponsors and Seva staff for making this eye camp a success!

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at Benwell-Atkins (RRD) in Vancouver checking our new 2010 calendar on press. What fun to see the gorgeous photos come to life! Talk about “hot off the press” – the ink was still wet when I was checking the samples and marveling at the colours.

Seva Canada 2010 calendar cover design

Calendars will be ready for sale from the Seva office by June 22nd. Our huge thanks to photographer Jon Kaplan for donating the images; to Gregory Green for his lovely design; and all the folks at Benwell-Atkins for their work on this job. It’s a beauty!

All proceeds from the sale of Seva Canada’s annual calendar go to restore sight and prevent blindness in the developing world. Call the office at 604-713-6622 to order yours!

Here’s the back cover:

back cover of Seva Canada's 2010 calendar

In February, I wrote about a little girl in Madagascar with such severe and unusual myopia (nearsightedness) that there was no help available to her in her own country.

This morning we received these photos of 8-year-old Andoniaina (Ando for short) wearing her new glasses specially made for her in Canada.

Ando wearing her new glasses

Ando lives on a small island in the Mozambique Channel, off the southwest coast of Madagascar. To seek help, she and her father travelled one hour by speedboat to Tulear on the mainland, then drove 1,000 kilometres to the capital of Antananarivo to get her eyes examined. They were eventually referred to a hospital in Antsirabe, 170 km south of the capital for a second opinion. That’s where Dr. Henry Nkumbe, Seva’s partner in Madagascar, saw the little girl and asked Seva Canada for help.

Seva then called on longterm supporter and optometrist, Dr. Larry Louie, for his expertise. Together Dr. Louie and his colleague Wayne Trieu of I-Lab Optical in Edmonton created a very special pair of glasses. The glasses were then hand-delivered to Madagascar in time for Christmas by a representative of Sherritt International Corporation, a Canadian resources company.

“Something like this is not usually done and isn’t readily available. That’s what made it challenging,” said Dr. Louie. The typical eyeglass prescription is 2.00 to -3.00 points, but Ando has a prescription of -27.00 points for her right eye and -23.50 points for her left eye. This means that, without glasses, Ando can’t see much beyond the tip of her nose. Ando was essentially blind and would not have been able to see the faces of her family.

Andoniaina and her family

To keep the glasses from becoming too thick and thus brushing against her eyelashes, Dr. Louie and optician Wayne Trieu used special myodisc lenses with two bi-concave lenses on the front and back of each lens. Another challenge was getting a frame that was strong and durable and that would last a long time.

Andoniaina’s story and the way in which Canadians in three provinces came together to help her was featured in the Edmonton Journal and on Global news.

Andoniaina at school with her new glasses

On behalf of Andoniaina, her family and our partner in Madagascar, Seva Canada would like to thank everyone who helped change this young girl’s life by giving her the gift of sight.

Andoniainia in her classroom off the coast of Madagascar

Here at Seva we call the acts of generosity and kindness that all our donors and partners in the field display, on a daily basis, compassion in action. Vancouver Talmud Torah’s Grade 7 class call those same acts a mitzvah.

A new program at Talmud Torah, called The Mitzvah of Valuing Philanthropy, has students researching charitable organizations that provide a wide range of services – locally and internationally. The students give a presentation on their chosen charity to the class and then the students together decide how to allocate grants to the different charities. This year, $18,000 was raised by students from their bar/bat mitzvah gifts, by the students’ families and community donors.

Seva Canada was very grateful to be included as one of the 20 charities in the program this year by students Shakaed Greif, Lena Arbetova and Adi Pick. The girls visited the Seva office, combed through our website and presented Seva’s cause to their class. They were obviously compelling as Seva received a cheque for $850 at yesterday’s Ceremony of Giving.

We are so grateful to Vancouver Talmud Torah and to Shakaed, Lena and Adi for their compassion, service and mitzvah. We promise to use the funds wisely and well and will dedicate them to restoring sight to children.

Children receiving eye care at a recent Seva eye camp in a remote hill district in Nepal. Photo courtesy of Johannes Burge

Seva Canada Board Member, Susan Erdmann, writes:

Prior to my leaving for Nepal in March, I gave my presentation on the Tibetan surgical eye camps to a class of 11 year olds (5th graders) at Mitchell Elementary in Richmond, BC. It was wonderful how well they responded to the visuals and story around eye camps and what it is like to lose sight from cataracts. The students asked lots of questions and were very engaged. When I left, I gave them each a Seva Gift of Sight catalogue and told them that everyone can make a difference and help restore sight.

I left quite pleased that they had responded so well. But what surprised and thrilled me far more was an email from the teacher, Miss Anita Lau, on my return from Nepal, telling me that the children had some money to give to Seva and asking me to return to the school to receive it. On Friday May 22nd, I returned to Mitchell Elementary and in front of the entire school, students from the class presented me with a cheque for $361.83.

Students from Mitchell Elementary School present Susan Erdmann of Seva Canada with a cheque for $361.83

How did they do it? They told me that, having decided to raise some money for Seva and under the teacher’s guidance, they brainstormed what they wanted to do and how they would do it. With their Seva brochures, they visited each classroom and told the other students about Seva and that what they were going to do raise some money to give people their sight back. They were going to hold a bake sale. They made posters to advertise, baked the goodies themselves and held the sale. They sold out and raised enough money to help restore the sight of 7 people.

But much more happened than being able to give Seva some money for the sight programs. These children learned many life lessons about what individuals can collectively achieve – how to work as a group for a common and worthwhile cause, the payoff of working towards a goal through personal effort, the satisfaction of giving to a wonderful cause and helping others in need, and the sheer joy of giving. They were so proud of themselves – as they should be.

The teacher, Miss Lau empowered and guided these young students, allowing them to discover for themselves what might be possible. I applaud Miss Lau and her students for a job well done. These students will have this experience for the rest of their lives, growing up with an expanded view of the world and how they can effect positive change in it.

Susan presents the cheque to the Seva Canada Executive

A huge thank you from Seva!