Fred's Vision

HOW YOUR SUPPORT IS CHANGING LIVES

NOVEMBER 2018

PHOTO: MICHAEL AMENDOLIA

SHANICE’S FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT

A MESSAGE FROM OUR CEO It’s hard to believe 2018 is coming to a close and we’re starting to see attention turn to Christmas.

This year has been an important one for The Fred Hollows Foundation with some critical new projects and milestones.

Since taking over as CEO in March I’ve had the chance to meet many of you, our generous supporters.

While there are many different reasons people choose to support our work, there is almost a universal message that people tell me – they believe in Fred Hollows’ vision of a world in which no person is needlessly blind.

Earlier this year we marked the 25th anniversary of Fred’s passing and it’s inspiring to know that all these years latter your commitment to his vision remains as strong as ours.

STEP UP FOR SIGHT The Fred Hollows Foundation is joining forces with one of Australia’s most iconic landmarks, Eureka Tower, to invite people to ‘step up for sight’ by taking on the 11th annual Eureka Stair Climb.

Climbers will scale the 1,642 steps, or 88 floors, to the Eureka Skydeck in Melbourne’s Southbank precinct, while raising money for The Foundation’s work.

About 2,500 participants, ranging from first-timers to elite competitors, are expected to sign up for the challenge on Sunday 25 November.

“The Eureka Stair Climb is a great community-spirited event where every climber can not only conquer a personal goal, they can also give the gift of sight to some of the world’s poorest people living with avoidable blindness,” said The Hon. John Brumby AO, Chair of The Fred Hollows Foundation The Stair Climb aims to raise $350,000 for The Foundation. You can register at www.eurekastairclimb.org.

So this year when we saw the plight of the Rohingya people, some of the most persecuted people on earth, The Fred Hollows Foundation decided we needed to step in and help.

We didn’t know the scale of the problem that faced us, with more than a million people now living in the makeshift refugee camps in Bangladesh.

But as Fred used to say “the alternative is to do nothing, and that’s not an alternative”.

So we rolled up our sleeves and with our local partners started screening camps. You can read more about this work in the following pages.

This is just one example of the amazing work your support makes possible.

As you turn your attention to Christmas we hope you’ll keep The Foundation in your mind and consider helping out with a donation or by giving a loved one a Gift of Sight card.

Kemeru Abdela developed trachoma 20 years ago.

“The agony is unbearable but I can’t do anything to make it fade away,” the 80-year-old from Ethiopia’s Oromia region said.

Kemeru’s was the 100,000th surgery supported by The Fred Hollows Foundation in Ethiopia.

“When The Fred Hollows Foundation started work in Oromia about four years ago, there were 150,000 people desperately waiting for surgery,” said Dr Zelalem Habtamu, The Foundation’s Ethiopia Acting Country Director. “We have made massive inroads into the problem and will continue our efforts to ensure everyone who needs surgery gets it and that together we will eliminate trachoma in Ethiopia.”

From The Foundation family we wish you and your loved ones a safe and prosperous Christmas and good health for 2019.

Ian Wishart CEO

TH 100,000 TRACHOMA SURGERY THE FRED HOLLOWS FOUNDATION FRED’S VISION NOV 2018

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GIVING SIGHT IN A DESPERATE PLACE “My family suffered much more because I was blind and could not defend them.”

These are the haunting words of Pir Mohammed, a 45-year-old Rohingya refugee who tells his story as he recovers from sight-saving cataract surgery at Baitush Sharaf Eye Hospital in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.

He is one of almost 700,000 Rohingya refugees who has fled Myanmar in the past year and arrived at the overcrowded camps in Bangladesh.

A father of seven, Pir has been blind with bilateral cataract for the past four years. After three years of persecution and torture at the hands of the military, Pir’s daughters could not take it anymore and the family escaped to Bangladesh.

It was an arduous journey for the family who walked for

two weeks to find safety. Pir was guided by the hand by his eldest son, through jungle, over mountains and across rivers to the tiny tent they now call home at a refugee camp about an hour outside Cox’s Bazar.

In Myanmar, Rohingya people cannot use government services or leave Rakhine State to visit doctors. As a result, local doctors estimate 50,000 of the 700,000 Rohingya people need cataract surgery. That huge need is why The Fred Hollows Foundation decided it must help.

When Pir returns to the camp after surgery he is met by his son Essarula, 8, and daughter, Nouhaba, 18. It is the first time he has seen them clearly in four years.

Nouhaba is relieved. “When we were in Myanmar I used to hold him and help him. Here I used to help him down the stairs and getting food. I am very happy he can now see.”

PHOTOS: MICHAEL AMENDOLIA

NEWS |

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THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT FOR SHANICE Milly knew there was something wrong with her daughter Shanice’s eyes when her baby girl was only six weeks old.

“Her eyes were looking at each other, crossed. I took her to the hospital but I was told that the thing would go away,” Milly said.

It didn’t. A few weeks later, Milly knew the problem was serious.

“I tried to make her laugh, I tried to wave my hand, but she couldn’t see. From there I knew my baby was sick.”

Yet local doctors continued to give Milly and her husband William conflicting information. Eventually they were told Shanice would need surgery.

Milly and William live in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. William works at a local abattoir and Milly runs a small shop on the roadside in front of their one-room, corrugated iron home.

They are extremely poor.

“When a child is blind from cataracts for a very long time, like since birth, like Shanice, then the path to the brain that processes vision is deprived of good images from the outside world,” said Dr Ernest Ollando, an ophthalmic surgeon at Sabatia.

That means even if a child has surgery later in life, the chances of them seeing well are significantly reduced.

The day of surgery was an emotional one for Milly. As Shanice was carried into surgery, she paced up and down and cried throughout the hour-long operation.

PHOTOS: MICHAEL AMENDOLIA

With no money for surgery, and confusion over what to do, they waited, hoping for a miracle. They soon received one: they were told Shanice could receive surgery at Sabatia Eye Hospital, The Fred Hollows Foundation’s partner in Kenya.

But 24 hours later, as Dr Ollando removed the bandages from Shanice’s eyes, Milly couldn’t stop smiling and laughing. Shanice could see for the first time.

“It’s awesome!” Dr Ollando said, unable to control his own emotion. “As a paediatric ophthalmologist there is nothing better, there is no better feeling, than making a difference in a child’s life.”

THE FRED HOLLOWS FOUNDATION FRED’S VISION NOV 2018

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PHOTOS: DANIEL JESUS VIGNOLLI

FEATURE |

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ONE YEAR ON A year after Shanice’s surgery, William and Milly’s worry and anxiety is gone, replaced by gratitude and hope.

“I am so grateful for the help you’ve given my child.

I never thought that a day would come that my child would be able to see,” William said.

Shanice is nearly two-years-old now. A year ago, she was an infant, blind, a girl, and living in poverty in rural Kenya.

It is a combination that doesn’t bode well for education, work prospects, life expectancy or moving out of poverty.

Shanice will now be able to go to school and will have no recollection of her life without vision – something that would have defined her and challenged her every single day.

Shanice’s sight-restoring cataract surgery has also had a life-changing effect on Milly and William.

“We feel like real parents now,” William said. “During those trying times all we had were problems. In our neighbourhood, we were the only parents who had a child with an eye problem so it was challenging. But luckily, thanks to you, the problem was solved.”

JUST LIKE OTHER BOYS THEIR AGE Three-year old twin boys Samlan and Sintham are among The Fred Hollows Foundation’s youngest ever patients. Born with congenital cataract in both eyes, the twins from rural Lao PDR, had their first eye operations to remove their cataracts when they were just seven months old.

Those operations were successful and allowed the twins to see – but they needed special glasses to do so. Two years later, the twins underwent another operation, this time to receive intraocular lenses.

Dr Phetsamone Indara performed both surgeries on the boys.

Almost a year after the second surgery, he returned to their village in Luang Namtha Province to check up on his special patients.

“The twins are at pre-school and loving it. They are like other boys their age – playful, active, and can’t sit still!” he said.

Dr Phetsamone checks the boys’ eyes. The tests show Samlan and Sintham are progressing well, but they will need to wear special glasses that can be adjusted as their vision improves.

PHOTO: AILDRENE TAN

PHOTO: AILDRENE TAN

“Thank you to everyone who supported us with our twin boys.

Before, I didn’t believe that they will have a good opportunity when they grow up,” their mother Chansouk said. “They’re lucky that their condition looks much better now. Sometimes, I shed tears of joy when I see them playing, enjoying, and looking at things. I don’t know how to say thanks to everyone who helped and supported us. Our family is really lucky and happy that the boys can see now,” she said.

THE FRED HOLLOWS FOUNDATION FRED’S VISION NOV 2018

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PHOTO: PAUL ZHANG

REPORT |

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PHOTOS: MARY TRAN

Xiao Long would often be found staring at a lightbulb or reaching out for things but missing.

ENTER THE (LITTLE) DRAGON Four-year-old Xiao Long is known as ‘Little Dragon’. It is a nickname that means healthy, energetic, brilliant – just like a dragon. But while energetic and smart, this little dragon has not been healthy. Xiao Long was born with congenital bilateral cataract. He also has amblyopia, or ‘lazy eye’ – where the eye fails to reach normal acuity – and nystagmus, an eye condition that causes involuntary eye movement.

Xiao Long lives in Guangnan County, in remote Yunnan Province in south-west China. Winding roads, which are often blocked by landslides, lead up the mountain to Xiao Long’s home. Xiao Long would often be found staring at a lightbulb or reaching out for things but missing.

“I know his eyes are not normal but I do not know how to fix them,” said Xiao Long’s father Kai-wen. “Am I worried? I don’t know what to worry about because I don’t have a solution.”

Kai-wen and his wife are factory workers. They live and work far away from Xiao Long, returning home once a year to visit.

Xiao Long and his two-year-old sister are cared for by their grandparents.

“We are not educated. I don’t know what to do,” Kai-wen said.

In 2017, Kai-wen took Xiao Long to the local hospital but the doctor said Xiao Long’s eyes could not be fixed. China has few ophthalmologists working in rural areas despite the overwhelming need. Fewer still are able to perform cataract surgery. It is little wonder that Xiao Long was considered beyond help.

But thankfully, a team from The People’s Hospital of Wenshan Prefecture – The Fred Hollows Foundation’s partner hospital in the region – visited Guangnan County and arranged an operation for Xiao Long.

The surgery was a success but the doctor cautioned that Xiao Long’s vision may never be perfect. But when the patches were removed, Xiao Long, very promisingly, reached out for the toy the doctor had for him and then started stacking blocks.

“If Xiao Long’s eyes recover, we will let him go to school.

I will support him, whatever it takes,” Kai-wen said.

YES, I WILL MAKE A DONATION TO RESTORE SIGHT AND PREVENT BLINDNESS.

SHARE THE JOY OF RESTORING SIGHT!

STEP 1: MY REGULAR MONTHLY DONATION Many of our supporters find it easier to make monthly donations to The Foundation.

YES, I would like to make a monthly donation of:

o $25 o $50 o $75 o My choice (minimum $15 per month) $ I will make my monthly donation by:

o Credit card or o Direct debit (form will be forwarded).

AND/OR MY SINGLE DONATION

It’s easy to order online. Simply choose from our wide range of Gift of Sight cards, featuring inspirational images and stories from the field.

YES, I would like to make a single gift of $25 o $50 o $100 o $200 o My choice $ o

This Christmas give a gift that will transform a life.

Cheque/Money order enclosed made out to o

Did you know that The Fred Hollows Foundation sells gift cards? Starting from just $25, you can order a personalised printed card or eCard as a gift for a loved one.

The Fred Hollows Foundation

Every card you order will help us achieve Fred’s vision of ending avoidable blindness.

Debit my Credit card: o o Visa o MasterCard o AMEX o Diners

Browse online now at www.hollows.org/giftcards

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o Please send me details on making a gift to The Foundation in my Will Donations of $2 and over are tax-deductible in Australia. Personal information is collected to process donations, issue tax receipts and send updates about our work. Our privacy policy is available at www.hollows.org/privacy-and-security and outlines how you can access or correct your personal information, who we disclose it to, and how we store it. If you wish to opt out of or change the frequency of updates you receive from us, please contact us via the details below. The Fred Hollows Foundation, Locked Bag 5021,Alexandria NSW 2015, email donations@hollows.org or call 1800 352 352.

Donations to The Fred Hollows Foundation are used to support our programs in Australia and overseas. The information contained in this publication is accurate at the time of printing. For more information contact fhf@hollows.org Fred’s Vision Magazine © 2017 is a publication of The Fred Hollows Foundation ABN 46 070 556 642. The Fred Hollows Foundation works for a world where no one is needlessly blind and Indigenous Australians enjoy the same health and life expectancy as other Australians. This publication may contain images of persons who have passed away. The Fred Hollows Foundation would like to acknowledge these persons and pay our respects to them and their families.