Celebrating World Sight Day with Sightsavers

Sightsavers exists to protect sight and fight for disability rights. Their vision is of a world where no one is blind from avoidable causes, and where people with disabilities can participate equally in society.

Since they were founded in 1950, Sightsavers has worked with partners to provide over 8.3 million cataract operations, more than 1.5 billion treatments for neglected tropical diseases and supported over 289,000 people with disabilities with training in skills to earn a living. 

Players of People’s Postcode Lottery have been supporting Sightsavers’ eye care and education projects in Africa since 2019 and this year an incredible milestone has been reached in terms of funding – Sightsavers has now received over £9 million of funding support, awarded by Postcode Global Trust.

Saving someone’s sight not only transforms their life, enabling them to go back to work and earn a living, but it also transforms the lives of their family members who often act as carers and put their own lives on hold to help them.  This was the case for Angeshita, a lady that the Sightsavers team met recently in Malawi.  Angeshita had been living in darkness and unable to see the faces of her children and grandchildren for such a long time that she had almost given up hope when the team met her. 

"Since I lost my sight, I can no longer work so rely on my children and grandchildren who look after me. It really pains me to just sit in one place for quite so long, idle."

Rex Bwanausi is the local ophthalmic clinical officer and when Angeshita attended an eye screening camp, Rex was able to diagnose that she had cataract in both eyes and refer her for sight saving surgery.

Angeshita went to the hospital for her cataract surgery – this involves removing the cloudy lens in the eye and replacing it with a clear one.  After her bandage was removed she was overjoyed!

"My eyes, I can see. The pain is no longer there, but above all, I can see!"

This is just one example of the incredible transformation of lives and communities being achieved thanks to players.

Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, Laura Chow, said

“It is humbling to hear from the teams witnessing life-changing moments when someone has their sight restored. Thanks to player support, Sightsavers has now received over £9 million for this important work. Angeshita’s wholesome story evidently showcases how players of People’s Postcode Lottery are championing the creation of solutions to fundamental issues facing societies through supporting over 9000 good causes. We hope support from players across Britain will continue to enable such great causes, bringing joy to families and communities as seen in Angeshita’s communities”

To celebrate World Sight Day on Thursday 13^th October, and the incredible support  they have received from players of People’s Postcode Lottery, Sightsavers is launching a new film called ‘Once upon a time in Malawi’ which centres around the story of Angeshita and her family.

For more information about the work of Sightsavers please visit www.sightsavers.org