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Q3 - Oct - Nov - Dec 2015 - Newsletter
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Damodharan, 65, lives with his wife in Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu. He mans the 'prasadam' (offerings) counter at the local temple to earn a living. Since his successful eye surgery, he has been motivating many people to go to the MFV supported outreach camp.
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Damodharan, 65, lives with his wife in Arani village, Thiruvallur district. The two of them live by themselves. He was working as a security guard until his vision started failing. He did not get it checked immediately. In March 2011, while crossing the road, he met with an accident because he couldn't see the oncoming vehicle clearly. Damodharan lost a leg and now had to bear with an additional disability. This vastly reduced his chances of being gainfully employed.
He heard about a MFV supported outreach eye care camp organised by its partner Sankara Nethralaya - JCOC and the local Sathya Sai Trust in Arani. Damodharan attended the camp where they diagnosed him with cataracts in both eyes. Both his eyes were successfully operated upon over a period of 4 months.
With his sight restored, Damodharan is a happy man. He now mans the 'prasadam' (offerings) counter at the local temple and earns enough to support himself and his wife. He feels some return to normalcy though the loss of his leg will always be a painful experience in his life. Damodharan has also been motivating many people to go to the outreach camp in Arani.
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Yashodabai Gumbade lives in a tribal area in Nashik district far from a healthcare facility. After her cataracts were removed, she is able to help her family again and share their workload. She is also relieved to be independent once more.
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Yashodabai Gumbade lives in a tribal area in Nashik district. She belongs to a poor family who subsist by working as daily wage workers & rearing farm animals. Yashodabai helps her family out with household chores including taking care of her grandchildren.
Yashodabai's vision started deteriorating & her vision became blurred. She was less of a help around the house and couldn't mind her grandchildren any more. This placed an additional chore on other family members as someone needed to stay home and spend more time caring for the children.
Yashodabai heard of the MFV supported outreach eye care camp through her neighbours where she got her eyes checked. She was diagnosed with cataracts and was sent to Tulsi Chanrai Eye Hospital, a MFV partner, for surgery. After her cataracts were removed, Yashodabai was able to see again. She helps her family and is happy to share in her family's workload. She is also relieved to be
independent once more.
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Dakaru Hipayawar is an optometrist with an MFV partner in Meghalaya. She believes that the solution (to tackling ignorance) lies in increasing awareness about eye care - that many eye problems are treatable and preventable.
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Dakaru Hipayawar is an optometrist with MFV's partner Bansara Eye Care Centre in Meghalaya. She screens eyes at the outreach camps and also goes house to house diagnosing people's eye problems or checking their eyes post surgery. It's a demanding role and one that needs to be performed thoroughly and meticulously. Dakaru's enthusiasm and energy seems more than a match for the job.
According to Dakaru, one of the biggest challenges is ignorance, and the myths and misconceptions regarding health. She says, "When people have any eye problem, they first seek traditional remedies from a local medicine man. They believe that their blindness is a curse. This results in the infection getting worse and eventually causing blindness, often irreversible."
She believes that the solution lies in increasing awareness about eye care - that many eye problems are treatable and preventable. She feels that working with the ASHAs, training them in turn to create awareness can help along with giving out information in the local languages like Khasi.
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