Q2 – July-September 2015- Newsletter   Stories of Transformation     55 year old Kanthammal is stepping out to head to the local market to sell leafy vegetables and earn her daily income. Her home is in a scenic village called Palaswaram, in Tiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu.       Kanthammal lives on her own. She decided to get the cataract in her eyes removed, despite knowing that for one month she would not be able to work. She got the left eye operated at MFV-supported Sankara Nethralaya Jaslok Community Ophthalmic Centre (SNJCOC) and her vision is 6/18. She is able to live her life once again on her own terms. But, she is postponing the surgery to her right eye as she is worried that she won’t have any income during the one month care period.       85-year-old Raghunath Powale lives in Nandgaon, Nashik district in Maharashtra. His world looked somewhat blurred, hazy outlines, contrasting light and darkness when his cornea started developing opacity. Since childhood he had vision only in one eye.       Now, he was worried about losing vision in that one eye and becoming dependent on others. Raghunath attended a MFV supported outreach camp and underwent surgery at Tulsi Chanrai Eye Hospital. The blurry vision became a thing of the past.In the words of Raghunath Powale, “I can't express my gratitude for being able to see again. Now I don't have to be dependent on anyone. I manage to do all my work on my own.”       Manji Lal is 60 years old and lives alone in Veermav village, Kanpur Nagar District, Uttar Pradesh. He lost his left eye when very young and grew up seeing only with his right eye. He couldn’t do his daily personal activities or his work as an agricultural labourer.       He had to rely on others' help to do the simplest things, to give him food, etc. and at times when no one was around he went to sleep without food. Then, he attended an outreach camp in his village that was conducted by MFV-partner, Sankara Eye Hospital. He was diagnosed with cataract in his right eye and taken to the base hospital for treatment. Six months after the surgery, when the MFV field team visited him for the impact assessment, his vision in the right eye was good at 6/6. Manji Lal expressed his joy at regaining his sight and also earning for himself, to live a respectable, self-reliant life again.     Back to main mailer     Mission for Vision Office # 45, 4th floor, Maker Chambers VI, 220, Jamnalal Bajaj Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai - 400 021, India Tel: +91-22-2282 4967/94 www.missionforvision.org.in