Gift of Sight
Don’t leave them in the dark
Scroll Page
How You Can Help
Key Facts
You Can Save Their Sight
Just being able to see this means you’ve got an advantage over countless numbers of people all over the world.
Cataracts are responsible for 51% of world blindness, leaving millions of people without their vision.
Cataract removals are simple, yet life-changing procedures that restore sight and can remove blindness almost instantly.
Unfortunately, millions of people around the world face economic barriers, preventing them from accessing the medical care they need.
Through our Gift of Sight programme, we provide optical check-ups, medication, and cataract surgery to young children, women, and men in Mali, Pakistan, and Niger.
Our eye clinics make these treatments readily available to all, with those who would otherwise be unable to afford healthcare benefiting from the free services
Don’t leave them in the dark, give the Gift of Sight today.
DONATE NOW
Meet Akhmed Wali
Born to a poor family in one of Pakistan's most impoverished regions, Akhmed lost his sight after a terrible fever at the tender age of 3.
"He is unable to eat on his own, we always have to feed him. He is always sitting on his own and can’t play with the rest of the kids his age. Its been two or three years that he has had this illness." (Shah Ali, Akhmed's father)
Shrouded in darkness, Akhmed spends his days isolated from other children his age, relying on his father to feed, dress and bathe him.
Just as his family began to lose hope that his condition would ever improve, Shah Ali sought help from the Muslim Hands eye clinic. With the help of our doctors on the ground, Shah Ali is hopeful that his son's sight will be restored and that he'll be able to see a future full of possibilities, like any other child his age.
GIVE THE GIFT OF SIGHT
Born With Cataracts: Soumana Coulibaly’s Story
The youngest patient at our eye camp in Mali is Soumana Coulibaly, a 7-year-old boy who lives 150 kilometers outside of the nation’s capital; Bamako, with his grandmother.
Once a year Soumana and his grandmother travel to Bamako to get his eyesight checked. Year after year, Soumana’s family has witnessed his eyesight deteriorate without being able to afford any treatment that might improve it.
He no longer attends school because he can’t make the journey safely to the next village, and has long since stopped playing with other children after suffering numerous injuries.
This life of isolation has made him shy and anxious, very unlike his brothers and sisters who are not restricted by any disabilities.
Thankfully, Soumana was able to receive surgery to correct his vision at our Eye Camp in Mali, restoring his sight.
A New Mother's Hardship: Meet Nadia Umar
Within months of her marriage, 20-year-old Nadia developed severe cataract in her eyes, rendering her blind. Scrutiny from her in-laws forced her back to her parents home as single mother of one baby girl.
Being a new mother is a rewarding but difficult experience, and in Nadia's case, caring for her child without the support of her husband or in-laws was made all the more difficult because of her sudden vision loss.
It was through the blessings and permission of Allah that Muslim Hands Canada was able to set up an eye camp where she and many more like her were facilitated with free of cost services of OPD, medicines and a cataract-removal surgery.
Her cataracts were removed on the first day of camp operations, and by being given back her sight she was also given back her life, dreams, and goals that had once been washed into an abyss of uncertainty. But most importantly she was given the chance to see her daughters face for the first time since she was born.
GIVE THE GIFT OF SIGHT
Established in 1996, Muslim Hands South Africa is an aid agency and NGO aiming to help those affected by natural disasters, conflict and poverty. It is a branch of Muslim Hands UK established in 1993 in Nottingham.