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Newsletter, January - March 2017
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71 year old Surakha Nahak lives with her husband and youngest daughter in a village in Ganjam district, Odisha. The village is 45 Kms away from the nearest city of Brahmapur, though the lack of connectivity and poor road conditions make it seem twice that distance.
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Surakha's husband is aged and severely ill. To make matters worse, her son moved away from home after his marriage. Due to lack of awareness and inaccessibility of eye care services, Surakha neglected her blurred vision caused by the onset of cataracts. She went blind in one eye. This left Surakha's daughter the sole bread winner and care-giver for her aged parents. She worked as a daily wage labourer in the community and could barely make ends meet.
Surakha's daughter went out to work, did all the household work as well as took care of her mother who couldn't even walk by herself in the house or help in the house work. Their distressed economic condition and Surakha's disability left both mother and daughter depressed. This went on for over three years. The family believed Surakha's eye condition was incurable and that she was fated to remain blind.
The neighbours one day told Surakha's daughter about a free eye screening camp to be organised by MFV's partner, LVPEI and convinced her to take her mother there. On the designated day, Surakha attended the camp accompanied by her daughter. There she was diagnosed with cataracts and sent to the base hospital for surgery.
After the surgery Surakha has got back her vision and happiness. She can manage her personal activities and even helps her daughter in doing chores around the house. Surakha's independence now means the world to her and even to her daughter. The entire community was thrilled by the result and today encourage others with eye problems to go to the LVPEI, Brahmapur hospital.
The sentiment was best captured when Surakha said “I had lost the hope of getting back my vision again, but I am grateful to LVPEI for providing such kind of service for people like us.”
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Kres Lamare lives in a remote village in the West Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya, close to the Indo-Bangladesh border. The people in her village are poor, many of them displaced from Bangladesh due to continuous political and ethnic unrest. The mountainous terrain makes the area difficult to navigate.
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Kres' children are married and have moved away to live with their spouses, though in the same village. She lives independently earning her living by doing some sewing and tailoring. Her husband passed away a few years ago. Around the same time, she started experiencing blurred vision which gradually diminished further. She had to give up her work and become completely dependent on her children. She believed this was a consequence of old age and didn't consult a doctor.
A few months ago, she heard about an eye screening camp in a small town around 15 Km from her village. Each day two vehicles leave the village in the morning ferrying villagers to the town and bringing them back later in the evening. The return trip costs Rs. 100 per person and this is a big sum for poor villagers with no access to alternative means of transport except their own two legs. Kres managed to get a spot in one of these two vehicles on the day of the eye screening camp and reached the town.
At the camp organised by Bansara Eye Care Centre, a MFV partner, Kres' eyes were examined and she was diagnosed with cataracts. She was counselled to undergo a simple surgery after which she would have better vision. On a later date, not soon after, Kres along with five other villagers travelled to Shillong to the base hospital in a bus sent by the hospital. Post surgery Kres fully regained her eyesight. The surgery and travel to Shillong were provided free of cost by the hospital.
Kres is very happy with her vision now. Although she has a pair of spectacles, she seldom requires them. She has resumed her work, is earning her living once again and is as independent as she was before.
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75 year old Lalta Prasad lives in a scenic village in the district of Dehradun in Uttarakhand. Farming is the primary occupation and source of livelihood for Lalta Prasad. Three of his sons left home to find alternative employment, leaving him to stay with his youngest son and family.
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Lalta Prasad began to suffer from diminishing vision in his eyes which eventually caused him to stop working in his fields and stay at home. His vision had deteriorated to such an extent that he needed a family member to support him in all his daily activities.
His village is as remote as it is picturesque. There is a private eye hospital located about 20 Km from the village and a government hospital in Dehradun which is 40 Km from the village. Such distances were just not traversable for an old man with vision impairment. This in addition to his poor economic condition stopped him from availing any treatment for his eyes. He hoped that he would get some support from his sons but none of them helped. He was despondent about his fate and anxious about the future.
One day, a village shopkeeper told him about a poster pasted on the walls of his shop, announcing a free eye screening camp in a town 12 Km away, by Nirmal Ashram Eye hospital, a MFV partner. Lalta Prasad managed to reach the camp on the day of the eye screening and there he was diagnosed with cataracts in both his eyes. His eyes were operated on and post-surgery, he can now see as clearly as before.
He has resumed working in his fields and caring for his animals. Additionally, Lalta Prasad takes advantage of his regained vision and his new found ability to travel by going to the market regularly to sell the vegetables he grows.
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