Now They Can Learn
Seven-year-old Rohini and her two brothers — Suraj, six, and Kuber, ten — were all diagnosed as having bilateral cataracts during a school screening in the remote, hilly district of western India. In addition to stopping them from seeing clearly, their cataracts almost ended their studies.
With around 320,000 sightless children, India has one of the world’s worst pediatric blindness problems. Through the India Childhood Blindness Initiative, ORBIS will develop around half of a planned nationwide network of 50 pediatric eye care centers in the next few years. This initiative will guarantee many generations of Indian kids easy access to quality eye care.
A leading beneficiary of our and our donors’ eye care capacity building project, Lions NAB Eye Hospital’s pediatric unit has seen an astonishing sixfold increase in its number of patients. Their cataracts removed, Rohini and her brothers are excelling at school. “I want to be a teacher because now I can learn,” Rohini smiled.
