Seva Canada: A Solution in Sight

The Seva-supported Kham Eye Center in Dartsedo will officially open in October 2010 but is already treating patients and performing cataract surgeries.

This blind Tibetan man is one of the first patients at the new Kham Eye Center in Dartsedo. He will receive cataract surgery to restore his sight.

The region has one of the highest rates of preventable and treatable blindness in the world and the need for care is huge. The high prevalence of age related cataract blindness among Tibetans is perhaps due to high altitude ultraviolet light exposure. According to a study in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, blindness and visual impairment in the Tibet Autonomous Region are significant public health problems, with the most elderly having rates of blindness between 12% and 33%. Women in Tibet bear two thirds of the burden of blindness.The Kham Eye Centre is the first dedicated eye hospital on the Tibetan plateau.

Kham Eye Center is the brainchild of Dr. Dorjee, chief ophthalmologist and director of Kandze Prefecture People’s Hospital. Dr. Dorjee is an extremely dedicated and compassionate eye surgeon. When the devastating earthquake struck the Yushu area in April, Dr. Dorjee was in the region conducting surgical eye camps. He and his medical team rushed to the earthquake zone to offer emergency assistance and, in the first day alone, treated 800 earthquake victims.

Blind patients arriving at the Kham Eye Center in Dartsedo for eye surgery

The Kham Eye Center is a non-profit eye care institution specializing in clinical services, research, teaching and prevention and treatment of eye disease. Seva is funding the human resource development, technical and managerial mentorship, and provision of ophthalmic equipment instruments and supplies.

The goals of the Kham Eye Center are:

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

Wavy Gravy celebrated his 74th birthday in Vancouver on May 15. Wavy came to Vancouver on a two-day visit with his wife Jahanara and Michelle Esrick, director of Saint Misbehavin’: The Wavy Gravy Movie.

Wavy Gravy, one of Seva’s founders, was in Vancouver for the special screening of the documentary about him, Saint Misbehavin’ — the closing film at this year’s DOXA Documentary Film Festival.

Described as “the illegitimate son of Harpo Marx and Mother Theresa, conceived one starry night on a spiritual whoopie cushion,” Wavy began life as Hugh Romney, a beat poet who played in the same coffee houses as Bob Dylan. Christened Wavy Gravy by none other than blues legend B.B. King, Wavy’s adventures included traveling around with Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters in the infamous psychedelic bus. He was truly immortalized when he took to the stage of the Woodstock Festival and promised 400,000 people “breakfast in bed.”

At the screening in Vancouver, the 600-person audience burst into a spontaneous and exuberant version of Happy Birthday, followed by loud applause. Clearly everyone was thrilled that Wavy Gravy and Jahanara were there and the screening was followed by a length Q&A session.

Here’s a photo of Seva board member, Dr. Martin Spencer, and Seva staff Paula Ford presenting Wavy Gravy with a Coast Salish talking stick as a birthday present from Seva Canada.

“Hundreds of thousands of cataract operations are impressive, but to change one person’s life with sight-restoring surgery is magnificent. That is the reason we do it.”
Dr. Peter Nash, ophthalmologist, Seva board member and legacy donor

Here is one story of a life changed through the gift of sight.

Tsering Dolma, age 72, has been a widow for many years. Although she has a son, he works far away so she lives alone. In her village in Tibet, she is the loneliest woman because all the other older women have some family members living with them.

Since 2008, Tsering Dolma’s vision deteriorated from cataracts, but she had no idea of the reason for this, which caused many problems in her life.

One day in the summer of 2009, Tsering Dolma was leaving her house to attend a village council meeting, and she fell down the stairs because her right eye was blind and her left eye had blurry vision. The fall seriously injured her knees, and she ended up bedridden for a month.

The following winter, it snowed a lot in her village and the streets were very slippery. Tsering was afraid of having another fall, so she decided to stay at home until it stopped snowing and the snow on the ground melted. The snow, however, didn’t melt that quickly. She was stuck in her house for seven days. She recalled, “During the seven days, I felt like a prisoner because I had nobody to talk to and I was completely isolated.” Tsering often believed that she had basic good health, but without eyesight she was powerless.

In January 2010, her son brought her to the Seva-supported eye hospital in Lhasa and Tsering’s sight was successfully restored. Tsering never expected that she would be able to see again and she was thankful that it actually happened to her.  On leaving Lhasa to return to her village 1,700 kilometers away, she said she hoped to work in her barley field, visit her neighbors every day, and to travel to visit her son several times every few months. She smiled and said, “I won’t be a prisoner ever again, and I will be enjoying my life as much as I can!”