Michael KellyOn a recent trip to Tanzania, Michael Kelly discovered that miracles do indeed happen
Tanzania, located in East Africa, is one of the least-developed countries in the world. With a population of 49.25 million, it is ranked 159th of 187 countries in the world on the United Nations Human Development Index.
I travelled to the Morogoro region in eastern Tanzania with Sightsavers, the global charity fighting preventable blindness. Morogoro is home to more than two million people, many of them subsistence farmers or working in the wider agricultural-based economy.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that some 80% of all visual impairment can be prevented or cured. My aim in Tanzania was to see the work that Sightsavers is doing – quite often in very isolated communities – to prevent and treat blindness and other visual impairments.
Cataract is the world’s biggest cause of blindness, with over 20 million people affected. The effects are particularly devastating in the developing world: having lost their sight, people inevitably lose their livelihood and their ability to support a family and forge a better life.
Vast majority
The vast majority of people blinded in this way are among the poorest of the poor – already only scraping by, their loss of sight is a catastrophic setback in a world with none of the safety nets or supports we have come to take for granted in the West.
Cataract is a build-up of protein in the eye’s lens that causes it to gradually go cloudy, preventing light passing through. Cataract leads to a blurring of vision, worsening until it is like looking through frosted glass. Treating cataract involves an operation to remove the lens, and replace it with a plastic one.
A cataract operation takes less than an hour and can cost as little as €36 to complete. This modest, yet life-changing procedure, can offer a brighter future to families in urgent need.
Sightsavers is passionate about fighting blindness, and the enthusiasm of its staff and partners is infectious. They launched the Million Miracles Appeal in 2014 to fund a million sight-restoring surgeries by 2018 with the aim of transforming lives and galvanising support for this neglected area of healthcare provision.
In Morogoro, eye health services are given a very low priority in the region’s severely limited public health system, resulting in a large and ever-growing backlog of unmanaged blinding eye conditions.
Currently, there is estimated to be 10,037 people waiting on surgery that will restore their sight. An enormous barrier to tackling the problem is the largely rural nature of the area and the fact that people are dispersed over a wide area. The Morogoro Regional Hospital coordinates up to 40 outreaches throughout the region each year.
I travelled to witness a week-long outreach in Mtibwa district hospital. On the very first day, more than 700 people arrived at the community centre from villages near and far in the hope of being screened. People arrived from very early in the morning and continued to arrive throughout the day.
The screening officially started at 8am and continued until almost 7pm each day. What struck me forcibly was the patience: the medical staff worked painstakingly to deal with all the people who had gathered from far and near. And the throngs of would-be patients stood for hours without complaining, often smiling widely at the thought of having their eyes treated after, perhaps, more than 20 years of blindness.
In advance of the outreach, Sightsavers and local partners work hard to build awareness about the screenings. Ahead of our trip, two weeks of public awareness initiatives had taken place, using radio to reach to those who are illiterate, press advertising, posters, a mobile van with loud speakers and they also leveraged community centres and churches to spread the word. The awareness raising was clearly very successful judging by the sheer numbers of people arriving to the screening.
Mtibwa is a real assault on the senses. As I arrived at the screening centre, my first impression was one of chaos. It soon became apparent, however, that what appeared to be as chaos was, in fact, a very well-organised and well-oiled machine.
Hundreds of people had gathered at the screening centre based in the local community hall. This was used to triage people so as not to overrun the small hospital nearby.
People presented with all manner of eye complaints and waited with their families to be assessed for the next phase of the process. For many, this involved having their eyesight assessed with eye charts.
Those whose eyesight could be improved with glasses were given glasses free of charge (a key incentive in getting patients to present) and those assessed with more serious conditions were referred for further examination. Those in need of surgery, made the short walk to the hospital.
By the end of the week, 3,018 people had been screened during the camp in Mtibwa, 611 had cataract surgery and 12 people had other eye surgeries.
This was an enormous achievement and a huge success.
Case Study
Habibu Athuman, age 80, suffered from bilateral cataract and has been blind for 10 years.
I first met Habibu sitting outside the local hospital where he was waiting to have his cataract surgery. He was led everywhere by his devoted nine-year-old grandson Peter Daniel.
Peter carried a heavy responsibility for his years that would confound many adults. He anticipated Habibu’s every need and was a model of gentleness and tenderness. I watched as he gently took his grandfather by the hand and led him to the safety of a bench outside the hospital
Before marrying, Habibu told me, he spent 19 years working on a large sisal plantation (a crop grown for making ropes). His main responsibility on the plantation was washing clothes, but he also told us that he played a role in raising the plantation owners’ children.
He took time to explain that the children were white children and that he loved them very much. After marrying his wife Herieth Athuman, he started a small farm. He has a son and a daughter and five grandchildren.
“My sight deteriorated slowly. I realised that it was becoming a serious problem when I started to make mistakes on the farm. I would sometimes confuse my crops with weeds. I have been completely blind now for 10 years and it has been a difficult time. I cannot farm and I can no longer do any building work. Even eating is difficult. Most of the time someone has to hand me my food,” he said describing his life without sight.
Sense of humour
Evidently, Habibu has not lost his sense of humour: “When the family sit down to eat a meal together I have learned that I need to eat quickly or otherwise there will be nothing left.”
Habibu’s blindness has had a dramatic effect on the family: “When I lost my sight we were living on our farm in Tanga. My grandson Peter came to live with us when he was four as I needed support at home, someone to help me. But my biggest challenge was that I didn’t have enough money for food. At first my friends and neighbours gave me a lot of support. They gave us money and helped us with farming work. But this couldn’t continue and eventually they stopped.”
Habibu realised he could no longer continue to live in Tanga and made the decision to leave his friends and community and move to Mtibwa to live with his son and his family.
“We simply couldn’t afford to stay independent. The local church gave us the money we needed to travel to Mtibwa to be with my son. He takes care of all of my needs now, but I do not have a single penny in my pocket for anything that I might want to buy. As a man, for any man, if you have no money in your pocket it is very difficult. I find it very hard to be dependent on my son.”
Habibu was absolutely dependent on his grandson. “Peter is a great support. He helps me move from place to place. He brings me to the market, he brings me even to the toilet. God is the mastermind and ultimately he will decide Peter’s future, but I have been telling him since he was a young boy that he could be a doctor when he grows up but that he must study very hard.”
We asked Peter if he thinks life will change for him after his granddad’s sight is restored. He said “I will be very happy, but I will still stay with my granddad – we are a team. We are used to being together.”
Habibu went under the surgeons knife and we promised to see him the following day to see how the surgery had went. We re-connected with him just before the bandages were removed from his eyes.
The nurse cleaned his eye and he slowly opened it. “I can see your hand,” he said to the nurse, “I can see the photographer, I can see the movement.” This was before Habibu had put on his sunglasses and we were initially worried that perhaps he couldn’t see very clearly. The doctor explained that because he had been blind for so long, it could take a day for him to adjust properly to the bright light.
As the doctor was explaining this to us Habibu turned to his grandson and told him with a big smile on his face and to everyone’s delight: “I can see the orange stripes on his t-shirt.”
Turning to the doctor who had performed the cataract surgery he said; “I thank God for the work that you have done. I thank God and I thank you. I hope that you continue to the have zeal and the energy to keep up the good work that you do.”
This was the first time that Habibu had ever seen his grandson clearly. The boy who for the past six years had been his helpful shadow, always there, always helping and guiding him through his daily life.
*In the edition of October 22, Michael Kelly will share the stories of more people who have had their sight restored.
Did you know?
18 million people worldwide are needlessly blind due to cataract, yet a straightforward operation could give them back their sight.
39 million people in the world are blind, yet 80% of blindness is preventable or curable.
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90% of people who are blind live in the world’s poorest countries.
Treatments available for blindness are among the most successful and cost effective of all health interventions.
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The impact of cataract surgery is significant.
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The restoration of sight through surgery generates increased economic productivity in the first year equivalent to 1,500% of the cost of the operation.
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Irish supporters of Sightsavers can make a blind person in the developing world see for just €36.
www.millionmiracles.ie