November 2010

This month, all of us at CBM continue to celebrate a remarkable milestone: the performance of the 10 millionth CBM-supported cataract surgery, an unprecedented accomplishment. On October 28, at a hospital in Moshi, Tanzania, Joyce Kayaa symbolically became the 10 millionth person to undergo the 20 minute operation, an operation that would undo heartache and sacrifice.

Watch our video about Elysee's cataract surgery in the Congo

Since our first cataract-surgery in Afghanistan more than 40 years ago, we have emerged as a world leader in the global fight to end preventable blindness. But the harsh fact is that there are approximately 18 million people worldwide who are blind from cataracts, the leading cause of low vision and blindness. And, each year, more than a million more go blind due to cataracts. This leads to devastating economic and quality of life effects on people who are already living in extreme poverty. Their chances of physical survival drastically spiral downward. In fact, in the developing world, more than half of the children who go blind will die within two years, according to the World Health Organization.

That’s why CBM’s goal is to reduce curable blindness even further. Yet our focus isn’t just on numbers but on each and every person whose fate we can change. People like Joyce.

One of Ten Million

Nine months ago, Joyce’s quality of life began to suffer as her vision grew increasingly worse. Each day, she became more dependent upon the help of family members. Before long, she could no longer dress herself or read from her Bible. Taking care of the livestock she owned was not only difficult, it was dangerous. When she accidentally injured a cow with a knife she couldn’t see hidden in the grass, it became clear that Joyce needed full-time assistance.

Though her family stepped in to help, they did so at a high cost. Her son gave up his training to become a gardener, and her niece quit her job. This loss of income stressed the family’s finances.

Yet just when Joyce had almost given up hope, she was screened by CBM health-workers who gave her incredible news: she had cataracts, and there was a simple surgery that would restore her sight.

Today, Joyce is recovering and looking forward to doing the things she once loved, especially reading from her Bible. What’s more, her son can continue his training, and her niece can return to work. They too have benefited from Joyce’s surgery.

When I think about Joyce and the millions more whose lives have been transformed, I am so thankful for the CBM donors who have made this remarkable milestone possible. Currently, CBM supports about 200 eye hospitals and eye departments worldwide. Because of our intervention—made possible by the generosity of our faithful donors—a blind person can see again every minute. This is truly something to be proud of!

With a gift of $35, you can give the gift of sight to someone with cataracts. Yet beyond surgery, your gift provides so much more. In fact, of the 10 million surgeries we’ve performed through the years, there are millions more whose lives have been dramatically improved.

I hope that you will take a moment now and join us in our continuing efforts to bring sight and renewed life to the millions of people suffering from preventable blindness. Together, we can make a profound difference.

October 2010

Countdown to 10 Million Now Seeing, Hoping, and Dreaming

By Ron Nabors, CEO, CBM-US  

As I write to you this month, I’d like to ask that you join with us as we prepare to celebrate a remarkable milestone: the performance of the 10 millionth CBM-supported cataract surgery! Made possible by the generous ongoing support of CBM donors, this is an unprecedented accomplishment by any other organization in the world.

Together with our CBM partners around the world, we’re keeping a close watch as we move ever closer to the 10 millionth surgery. In fact, the more than 675,000 surgeries we performed last year  combined with those we’ve performed already in 2010 have put us right on track to reach 10 million by the end of October.

Since the first CBM-supported cataract surgery in Afghanistan in 1966, we have become a leader in the global fight to end preventable blindness. What’s even more amazing is that this fight, which helps millions of people around the world who are blind from cataracts, begins with as little as $35—the average cost of a cataract surgery for an adult in the developing world. Surgery for children with cataracts may cost as much as $200 due to general anesthesia needs. Yet the impact this surgery has is truly priceless.

Each year, more than a million people will go blind as the result of cataracts. For people who are already living in extreme poverty, cataracts drastically affect their quality of life. Now, these people who are on the edge of survival, face the loss of education, the ability to support themselves, and lack of acceptance within their communities. What’s more, their life expectancy drops substantially.

Bahati, a little boy in Tanzania, could have been just another statistic if not for CBM’s help.

His mother, Evelyn, first noticed that he had a problem when he began spending much of his time in the shade. Whenever Bahati went out into the sunlight, he had difficulty seeing. It was only when he started attending school, however, that Evelyn learned the terrible truth: Bahati was almost completely blind.

Often, he would return home from school covered in cuts from thorn bushes because he couldn’t see well enough to walk by himself. Soon, he was forced to quit school entirely. To make matters worse, Bahati couldn’t see well enough to help his family in the fields either. Once, he even threatened their meager livelihood when he cut the good maize, having mistaken it for weeds.

Thankfully, Evelyn heard about a small health station close to her village. The clinic referred Bahati to the CBM-supported Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) hospital in Dar es Salaam. CCBRT arranged for Bahati and his mother to travel to the hospital where he would have sight-restoring cataract surgery.

Today, Bahati’s life has been completely transformed. Evelyn tells us, “Bahati is behaving much differently now. He’s much happier playing. Now, he can go back to school and can help out in the fields.”

CBM-supported surgery freed Bahati from a lifetime of hardship and provided him with the opportunity to achieve an education. This is one vitally important step in helping Bahati, his village, and his country break the poverty/disability cycle. Poverty and disability are intrinsic in the developing world. People with disabilities and their families are more likely to live in extreme poverty. Likewise, people who live in poverty are much more likely to become disabled.

That’s why I’d like you to know that your gift does more than restore vision. It actually restores lives and helps to break the devastating cycle of disability and poverty.

On behalf of Bahati, the almost 10 million people who’ve received sight-restoring cataract surgery, and the millions more whose lives have been changed for the better as a result, I’d like to ask you to Join CBM  (www.cbmus.org)in counting down to this remarkable milestone and in the fight against preventable blindness.

In the developing world, more than

half the children who go blind will

die within two years.

- World Health Organization.

  

                            

 

September 2010

Brian Hatchell, CBM’s Emergency Communications Coordinator, recently spent time in Pakistan in the wake of last month’s devastating monsoon floods. Here is an account of his travels.

As I sit in the comfort of my own home, all I can think about are the people in Pakistan who lost theirs. I met so many people on my trip: young, old, male, female, rich, poor. And they all have one thing in common—they lost everything to the floods.

Mother Nature doesn’t discriminate. But neither does the spirit of survival.

Everyone I met, from the four-year-old boy who lost his father, to the 50-year-old man who lost his saw mill, to the widow who doesn’t know where she will live once the waters recede. All they want is a chance. A chance to return home, a chance to rebuild their lives, a chance to regain their independence.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the size of a disaster affecting more than 20 million people. But when you look at it as one family at a time, it seems more manageable. You feel like you are actually making a difference in the lives of survivors.

In one particularly hard-hit area in a village north-east of Peshawar, we visited a mother/child health clinic run by the Diocese of Peshawar, one of the eight dioceses of the Church of Pakistan and one of CBM’s local partners. Though the clinic was very basic, the health care being provided was truly life saving. The doctors see about 30 to 40 patients a day, and most of them have skin disease, tuberculosis, diarrhea, gastro-intestinal illnesses and even some cases of cholera and malnutrition. The staff working in the clinic were truly dedicated. Many of them had lost their homes in the flood, but continued to come to work to help those less fortunate.

I met one woman, Laviza, is who 35 years old and married with 6 children between the ages of 6 and 20. She is blind in one eye. When the floods came in the early hours of the morning, she awoke to the sounds of screaming. When she and her husband jumped out of bed, there was already water on the floor of their house. Because she could not see well in the darkness, she could do little to help. Terrified, she could only depend upon her husband to take their children to safety.

The next morning, the family traveled to a Diocese relief camp where they were given life-saving supplies of food, water, shelter and medical care. Yet after a month, the family desperately wanted to return home. What they saw when they returned was devastating. All of their belongings had washed away, the foundation had shifted, and all of the walls had large cracks. However, the family decided to stay there. “It is our home, where else could we go?” Laviza said. With no money to rent a house or repair the damages, Laviza and her family literally had nowhere else to turn. Despite having lost everything, Laviza told us that she feels incredibly blessed. No one in the family was injured, and the Diocese has been a tremendous help. They’ve been given basic clothing, household items, and cooking supplies. The Diocese hopes to help them repair their house or rebuild if they can raise the funds needed.

In our travels throughout Pakistan, everywhere you looked was water. Under this water were some of the best crop lands in all of Pakistan. In its wake, the water spared no one, rich or poor. Natural disasters devastate everyone.

By nature, all of us are grateful for assistance when we need it, but the basic human instinct is to make one’s way in this world. The residents of Pakistan are no different. Their will to survive and start over is strong.

When I arrived in Pakistan and saw the magnitude of the floods, I honestly thought, “How will Pakistan ever recover from this?” But the more people I met, the more stories of hope and courage I heard. The country, and its people, will recover, rebuild, and be better for it.

If you’d like to help, please give now.

 

 

 

 

 

Some officials in Pakistan say that the economy has been so badly damaged they worry even micro-enterprise projects won’t be able to help as no one has any money to purchase goods. For now, they may have to go back to the barter system while people try to get back on their feet and reintroduce money at a later date.

 

September 2010

Brian Hatchell, CBM’s Emergency Communications Coordinator, recently spent time in Pakistan in the wake of last month’s devastating monsoon floods. Here is an account of his travels.

As I sit in the comfort of my own home, all I can think about are the people in Pakistan who lost theirs. I met so many people on my trip: young, old, male, female, rich, poor. And they all have one thing in common—they lost everything to the floods.

Mother Nature doesn’t discriminate. But neither does the spirit of survival.

Everyone I met, from the four-year-old boy who lost his father, to the 50-year-old man who lost his saw mill, to the widow who doesn’t know where she will live once the waters recede. All they want is a chance. A chance to return home, a chance to rebuild their lives, a chance to regain their independence.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the size of a disaster affecting more than 20 million people. But when you look at it as one family at a time, it seems more manageable. You feel like you are actually making a difference in the lives of survivors.

In one particularly hard-hit area in a village north-east of Peshawar, we visited a mother/child health clinic run by the Diocese of Peshawar, one of the eight dioceses of the Church of Pakistan and one of CBM’s local partners. Though the clinic was very basic, the health care being provided was truly life saving. The doctors see about 30 to 40 patients a day, and most of them have skin disease, tuberculosis, diarrhea, gastro-intestinal illnesses and even some cases of cholera and malnutrition. The staff working in the clinic were truly dedicated. Many of them had lost their homes in the flood, but continued to come to work to help those less fortunate.

I met one woman, Laviza, is who 35 years old and married with 6 children between the ages of 6 and 20. She is blind in one eye. When the floods came in the early hours of the morning, she awoke to the sounds of screaming. When she and her husband jumped out of bed, there was already water on the floor of their house. Because she could not see well in the darkness, she could do little to help. Terrified, she could only depend upon her husband to take their children to safety.

The next morning, the family traveled to a Diocese relief camp where they were given life-saving supplies of food, water, shelter and medical care. Yet after a month, the family desperately wanted to return home. What they saw when they returned was devastating. All of their belongings had washed away, the foundation had shifted, and all of the walls had large cracks. However, the family decided to stay there. “It is our home, where else could we go?” Laviza said. With no money to rent a house or repair the damages, Laviza and her family literally had nowhere else to turn. Despite having lost everything, Laviza told us that she feels incredibly blessed. No one in the family was injured, and the Diocese has been a tremendous help. They’ve been given basic clothing, household items, and cooking supplies. The Diocese hopes to help them repair their house or rebuild if they can raise the funds needed.

In our travels throughout Pakistan, everywhere you looked was water. Under this water were some of the best crop lands in all of Pakistan. In its wake, the water spared no one, rich or poor. Natural disasters devastate everyone.

By nature, all of us are grateful for assistance when we need it, but the basic human instinct is to make one’s way in this world. The residents of Pakistan are no different. Their will to survive and start over is strong.

When I arrived in Pakistan and saw the magnitude of the floods, I honestly thought, “How will Pakistan ever recover from this?” But the more people I met, the more stories of hope and courage I heard. The country, and its people, will recover, rebuild, and be better for it.

If you’d like to help, please give now. 

 

 

 

Some officials in Pakistan say that the economy has been so badly damaged they worry even micro-enterprise projects won’t be able to help as no one has any money to purchase goods. For now, they may have to go back to the barter system while people try to get back on their feet and reintroduce money at a later date.

 

July 2010

Every year, CBM compiles a comprehensive report of achievements from the previous 12 months. This year, as I read through this lengthy document, I could not help but be immensely proud of our work. In light of last year’s recession and financial uncertainty, we were challenged with the seemingly insurmountable task of providing critical services to more than 23.7 million people—a substantial increase from 2008. Yet despite the bad economic times facing our country last year, which resulted in lower income for CBM, we did not have to make the difficult decision to stop funding critical projects in the developing world. This was truly an amazing accomplishment—an accomplishment made possible through the ongoing generous support of investors like you, coupled with a short-term reduction in some of our own key infrastructure expenses, such as not filling open staff positions. Among our many successes in 2009 are:

· +920,000 eye operations were performed.

· +380,000 people received Vitamin A tablets.

· +1.1 million eyeglasses were dispensed.

· +165,000 people were enrolled in empowerment activities including self-help groups

· +64,000 children were enrolled in education programs.

· +675,000 people have had their sight restored through a cataract operation.

· +480,000 received medical treatment for hearing problems.

· +17,000 hearing aids were distributed.

· +96,000 people received support through CBM’s Community Mental Health programs.

· +66,000 people benefited from vocational training and employment programs.

· +2,600 doctors and more than 3,100 nurses/assistants received critical medical training.

· +16,000 teachers learned how to fully include children with disabilities in the classroom.

When we look at these statistics, we must not forget that behind these numbers are real people—men, women, and children who desperately need our help. Children like Hans.

Tucked deep inside the vast slums of northern Lima, Peru, amid endless rows of ramshackle houses, filth and trash, Hans lives with his family. Born with Cerebral Palsy, or CP, a group of chronic conditions affecting body movement, muscle coordination, and often mental capacity, Hans spent most of his days in isolation, lying in a simple plastic tub watching.

Having a child with a disability makes life for families already existing in extreme conditions of poverty even more difficult. With few resources, Hans’ parents did not know what to do to help him. The harsh truth is that people living with disabilities in the poorest countries of the world have little access to rehabilitation and other services. In fact, 98 percent of children with disabilities in the developing world do not attend school. The mortality rate for these children under the age of 5—like Hans—is as high as 80 percent.

Yet in just a short amount of time, Hans’ life has completely transformed. One of CBM’s Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) workers found him and began at-home physical therapy sessions. She enrolled him in a local preschool, and with the assistance of a special chair provided by CBM, Hans now sits upright at the table with the other school children. This child, who could once do little more than lie on the floor, now is considered the brightest in his class.

Hans is one of the more than 23 million people with disabilities annually whose lives have been changed for the better thanks to the generous gifts of CBM supporters. I’d like to ask you to take a few moments to review what we accomplished this year (LINK). Here, you’ll find other inspiring stories and view real evidence of the monumental impact your investment with CBM can make.