Sight for 10,000 Poor Blind Children in Pakistan

Rahim hails from Gharoo, rural Sind, but he along with his family has moved to Goth Sumar in Karachi recently. He is a laborer and often in search for work to feed his family. His wife works as a domestic worker in the homes of the nearby gated community. As their family struggles to make ends meet she is the main bread winner for her husband and five children. Her children spend most of their day at home attending to house hold chores or playing among themselves. Their total belongings comprise of a few pairs of clothes and a few utensils. Of the five children, Kulsoom aged 12 and Ahmed aged 5 have been struggling with their sight since they were born. Their parents are aware that both of their elder kids have uncoordinated walking and movements and like to sit in one place or limit their movement. Specially after night fall both kids like to retreat to a corner of the room to avoid bumping into something or someone. Even in the village, doctors advised  Rahim that the kids will not be able to see properly without an expensive surgery. Rahim and his wife had resigned themselves to the fact that their kids will not be able to see properly since they knew they would not be able to afford the suggested surgery. One fateful day while Ahmed played outside the house where his mother works, he met her employer. The lady noticed that something was not right with Ahmed and upon inquiring Ahmed’s mother told her about Ahmed’s eye sight problems. Her employer told her about free eye treatment at LRBT.Rahim and his wife recount their disbelief when they brought their two kids to LRBT and they were offered free cataract surgeries. Both Kulsoom and Ahmed have had one eye operated and await their second cataract surgery after a few weeks. Now they too hope to be able to play a game of catch with their other siblings.

LRBT is happy to report that in 2022 LRBT treated over 260,000 children and performed over 3200 major and over a 1000 minor eye surgeries free for the poor.