NSPIRED
ON A MISSION TO
MAKE A DIFFERENCE By RILEY HAUN Photography By JOEL RINER
L
ake Atitlan is the kind of place you want to keep your eyes on.
Ringed by steep volcanoes and verdant hills, the lake’s jeweltoned waters glint in the sun like a mirror. Around the water’s shoreline nestle towns and tiny villages, each a mosaic of colors. If it’s a feast for the eyes you’re after, you could spend a lifetime looking here. But Efrain hadn’t seen the beauty of his lakeside hometown of Sololá, Guatamala in years. At 29 years old, he was completely blind.
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He’d started developing cataracts a few years prior as a result of untreated diabetes. Now, he couldn’t work to feed his young daughter. In fact, it had been years since he’d been able to truly see his daughter’s face. Two hours from the nearest big city, Sololá’s residents didn’t have much access to quality healthcare. And in a region predominantly populated by indigenous Maya people, Efrain faced the hurdles of prejudice and poverty in regaining his sight. So the next time Mike Oswald