One of the patients was Belo, who lives with her mother in Harar, Ethiopia. Belo has been blind for three years from cataracts in both eyes. She was mesmerized when Dr. Oliva showed her a picture of herself on his phone following her surgery.
“HCP has been working at building capacity at Bisidimo Hospital for a decade now and there still remains a large backlog of patients who are cataract blind,” Dr. Oliva said. “We will be back with a local team in a few months. It is always especially meaningful to restore sight to brave and trusting children like Belo who have their surgeries with a local anesthesia. There were over 50 kids who received surgery. About 20 we’re blind in both eyes like Belo.”
An additional surgical outreach took place in Abra Minch, Ethiopia, led by HCP Co-founder Dr. Geoff Tabin.
Urke, from the mountainous village of Mierab Abaya, attended the outreach with her granddaughter. Urke had been blind for several years. After her surgery, Urke’s granddaughter took her to view Abaya Lake from their village. Urke said it had been a long time since she had enjoyed this view.
Thank you for your support of the Outreach Eye Camps in Ethiopia project. The work of the Himalayan Cataract Project continues in Ethiopia and other countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, however this project on GlobalGiving is now closed. If you would like to continue to support our work through the GlobalGiving platform, please follow the link below.
