Nkhoma Hospital

Cataract is the single largest cause of blindness in the world.

Sight-restoring cataract surgery takes less than 15 minutes.

It costs only £24 for an adult, and it completely restores clear vision to the blind.

It hardly seems possible, but it is. Just as Efelet, an 18 year old girl from Njonja Bonzo village in the Dedza District, not far from Nkhoma Hospital, where I work in Malawi.

I waved my hand over her eyes. "What can you see?"

"Nothing," she replied. "Only light and dark." Like trying to see through a handkerchief.

The £24 gift from a supporter like you provided Efelet with two plastic replacement intra-ocular (IOL) lenses that cost £1 each. That same £24 covered the cost of the local anaesthetic and funded a quick, painless operation that allowed her to walk out of the hospital, seeing with her own eyes, without a guide.

Now Efelet can read, farm, cook, fetch water, and look forward to raising a family, because someone like you gave £24.

With a special gift of £95, you could give sight to a young child born with cataracts. Child surgery costs more than an adult's because children require general anaesthetic, a special intra-ocular lens, and an expensive anti-inflammatory jab after surgery.

I recently saw one little boy with cataracts who had severe burns on his head because he fell into a cooking fire. He - and his sister and mother - all of whom were born with congenital cataracts, walked out after surgery gazing and smiling. Seeing each other's faces for the first time in their lives.

  A gift of £24 would pay for a sight-restoring operation for one adult.
  A gift of £30 would buy a special intra-ocular lens for a child's operation.
  A gift of £40 would help to cover the cost of local and general anaesthetics.
  A gift of £95 would provide surgery to give sight to a child born with cataracts.

Nkhoma Eye Hospital

Since 1977, CBM has been working in partnership at Nkhoma Hospital. It is run by the Nkhoma Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Central Africa, where it serves some of the poorest people in the world.

The Eye Department houses an out-patient clinic, ward and an operating theatre from where CBM supported ophthalmologists run regular eye clinics and surgeries. In addition, regular outreach campaigns reach into rural areas to help identify and refer those who would otherwise lose their sight, or live without sight.