Eye Champions
Turning Blindness into Sight
“Weeping may be for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” – Psalm 30:5
As a cbm Eye Champion you will be helping to transform the lives of people with avoidable blindness in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Your regular gifts will be a blessing to many, by bringing hope to people in urgent need of sight-saving surgery.
PNG has the highest prevalence of preventative blindness in the Pacific and one of the highest worldwide. People living in the remote Highlands area where cbm works are most at risk due to lack of accessible eye health services. Yet most preventative blindness is easy, and relatively cost-effective, to treat. Blindness is often met with suspicion in PNG with many people who are blind becoming stigmatised or victims of human rights abuse. Isolation is commonplace.
As a cbm Eye Champion, your regular gifts will help find children and adults needing eye health care who are often hidden away and isolated. They will then be assessed and referred to a cbm-funded outreach clinic in their area, sometimes a journey of several hours on foot. At the clinic the cbm ophthalmologist will perform the delicate sight-saving surgery and the patient is kept overnight, with their bandages removed the next morning.
Thanks to kind and caring people like you regular gifts help break down the traditional fear of disability, so children and adults are welcomed back into their families, schools and communities.
Your regular gift will be matched by the NZ Government x5 to ensure maximum impact.
To become an Eye Champion today, click on the button below, choose the amount you would like to gift and the frequency.
Maria receives her miracle
Living with blindness, due to cataracts, in the dense and dangerous rain forest, Maria lost hope that anyone would ever restore her sight. Maria was completely resigned to being blind. But she believed in Jesus. Every single day, she prayed for a miracle.
The endless struggle of being blind was so hard on Maria. No longer could she farm her little vegetable patch for food to sell at the local market. Because of her blindness, she lost her livelihood, causing her the double disadvantage of poverty and disability.
What hurt the most was never seeing her grandchildren’s lovely faces. That was her greatest dream. Being unable to bond with them broke her heart.
Through the generosity of people like you, it was possible for the skilled cbm ophthalmologist to remove the blinding cataracts from Maria’s eyes.
Maria was overjoyed when her bandages were removed. “I can now see as well as a child! I have my vision back!”
She no longer has to dream of her miracle. She can now live it. With clear eyes, she can see a long, healthy and independent life ahead of her, surrounded by her precious family and grandchildren.
Steven is no longer living in darkness
Living in a world of darkness, Stephen had lost everything, including his loving family.
Six years ago Steven was an outgoing man, with a loving wife and children, but blinding cataracts saw him fighting with his family, and he ended up losing everything.
Steven describes this as “living in the darkness world.” He had no hope for the future, he had no strength, he lost all his energy, and he lost all his joy. Most tragically, he had lost his family, and his family had lost him.
Thanks to generous people like you, a cbm field worker found him in his isolated village and referred him to an outreach clinic. The cbm ophthalmologist was able to restore his vision, and he was able to see for the first time in years.
Overjoyed, Steven says “I cannot thank the doctor and the staff at the eye clinic enough, I have a life again!”
Steven has reconnected with his family. Returning to the village, he saw two of his grandchildren for the first time and was full of joy.
Steven has a renewed strength and eagerness to live in this ‘new world’.
Freephone: 0800 77 22 64 (within NZ only)
Phone: +64 9 414 9405
Email: enquiries@cbmnz.org.nz