Sabina
Please help give the Miracle of Sight to children, like Sabina, in the world’s poorest places.
Taking the child in his arms, He said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My name, welcomes Me.” – Jesus, in Mark 9:36-37
We hope you are well, and pray for the continued protection of you and your loved ones in these challenging times. We also pray that practical help reaches all who are affected in emergency situations, and for courage and determination for communities as they face the long road of rebuilding ahead.
Today we’d like to share with you the story of a courageous, and determined 9-year-old girl called Sabina who lives with her mother Devi, and grandmother Mangali in Nepal.
She cannot see. Cataracts have blinded her eyes. Unable to go to school, her future has faded as badly as her vision.
Sabina and her family are from Nepal’s lowest caste. Sabina’s father died from typhoid when she was just a baby. Devi works hard, but her wages hardly feed them.
Even in her young years, Sabina’s greatest hope is to do well at school and work her way out of poverty. “Studying makes me happy,” she says. “I like to go to school, and read and write. I want to be a teacher.”
Your gift towards gold standard cataract surgery is the miracle that lets light shine into lives like Sabina’s. Please keep giving the Miracle of Sight to children and adults in the world’s poorest places by sending a gift if you can.
Sabina’s happy plan was halted by the cataracts growing in her eyes. For over two years her sight faded away. Tripping over things at home. Unable to read the board at school. Squinting in pain, as her cataracts turned daylight into a hazy glare.
Within six months Sabina became almost completely blind. Her impoverished community, fearful of disabilities, shunned the little girl. Her school was unable to help her, so not wanting to give up, she tried to study at home.
What a dilemma! Education was her one hope of escaping poverty.
“I can’t see properly, I can’t help my mother,” Sabina grieves. “My exams are coming. I am worried I will miss them. I miss my school. I can’t see my mother’s face.”
Her mother, Devi, was shocked and worried for her future – knowing older people become blind with cataracts, but surely not a child!
Sadly, cataract blindness does affect many children. And restoring a child’s sight brings the added necessity of a general anaesthetic to keep them safely still and asleep during delicate eye surgery. Instead of $35 for a 12-minute Miracle of Sight for an adult, $230 is needed for a child’s cataract surgery.
Today, please prayerfully consider sending your gift for sight-saving cataract surgery in the world’s poorest places.
Removing children’s cataracts is especially urgent because of a condition called amblyopia: if sight is restored too late, the brain and the eyes may not work together perfectly.
Your generous support helps cbm-funded eye doctors win the race against time to restore a child’s sight as soon as possible.
Your kindness makes it possible to send cbm-funded outreach clinics – Eye Camps they are called – to find people with avoidable blindness living in the world’s poorest places.
Thankfully, through a work colleague, Devi found out about the cbm-funded Eye Camp close to their home. There they discovered that Sabina needed surgery… immediately.
“She has dense cataracts in both her eyes,” said Jitendra, one of the cbm-funded outreach workers you help to support in Nepal.
“If the cataract is not removed soon, she risks losing her sight completely. She needs surgery now. Immediately. Urgently.”
Devi was devastated. “I’m a single woman. There is only me to support my family. I don’t have money. I cannot afford surgery.”
This is often the challenging reality of people living in poverty with disabilities.
But Jitendra gave her the good news that she could barely believe. “You don’t have to worry about the money. Our hospital is funded by cbm supporters, just as the Eye Camp was. All you have to do is come to the hospital for Sabina’s operation.”
What an incredible gift people like you are giving to help bring the Miracle of Sight to children and adults with avoidable blindness.
Soon, Sabina was being welcomed into the bustling paediatric ophthalmology department of the cbm-funded eye hospital – where up to 150 young patients are treated every day.
This sight-saving hospital was established 40 years ago by Dr Albrecht Hennig from CBM, when he opened a 12-bed Eye Care Centre. And from these humble beginnings, the cbm-funded Biratnagar Eye Hospital now carries out a thousand operations a day! That’s the impact people like you are having in the world’s poorest places. Thank you!
In her little purple surgical gown, Sabina waits anxiously with her mother Devi, for her turn. Up to ten children at a time will receive the Miracle of Sight this day. One by one, cbm-funded Ophthalmologist Dr Pawan restores their sight on your behalf.
Dr Pawan works skillfully on Sabina’s right eye first – removing the cloudy, blinding cataract and sliding a clear new lens into her eye. He says, “That is gold standard surgery in any part of the world.”
I am so humbled that people, like you, would make sure that a child from the lowest caste, in poverty, can receive such excellent eye care.
“I was praying to God for good vision,” Devi said – and her prayer was answered. When the nurses removed the patch from Sabina’s eye, new light flooded in. Her mother joyfully exclaimed, “I can already see a huge improvement in how she is walking.”
Dr Pawan agrees. “Her vision has improved a lot. It will get even better. Let this eye heal, then we can operate on her left eye next month. She will be able to see very well after that.”
Sabina is already thinking of her future. “I can see better now. I can read my textbooks and sit my exams. Thank you for my miracle.”
Devi has a message she wants me to pass on. “I am a single woman. I was so worried for Sabina’s future. You have helped my child so much. Thank you.”
The incredible impact people like you are having was witnessed by two CBM ambassadors recently, when they travelled to the cbm-funded Biratnagar Eye Hospital.
Here is what Lucy and Danielle had to say when they saw a young boy receiving sight-saving cataract surgery:
“We truly are witnessing a miracle here. They’ve just popped the new lens in. This little boy’s life is about to change forever. And not only that, the generations to come after him. He gets to now be educated, therefore his children can be educated. This is how we start to shift poverty. It’s miraculous…” says Lucy.
“It’s emotional because I’ve heard so many people say that poverty is too big, we can’t do anything. But we can… by giving… we seriously could see humanity shift for the greater good,” says Danielle.
“It’s miraculous. I’m so passionate about cbm because they change people’s lives! This place started in a mud hut, with one man, and now there’s a thousand operations a day,” says Lucy.
You can click on Lucy and Danielle’s image to view their full video. You will see these two women overcome with emotion as they watch a young boy receive the Miracle of Sight, through gold standard surgery.
Today there are many children, like Sabina, in need of urgent cataract surgery to remove their blinding cataracts. To keep this wonderful ministry going, please prayerfully consider sending a gift to help give the Miracle of Sight to adults and children, like Sabina.
Your gift will help keep the cbm-funded Outreach Clinics running, to find people with avoidable blindness living in the world’s poorest places. And your gift will also help cbm-funded Eye Hospitals maintain gold standard surgery techniques to give the Miracle of Sight.
Thank you for being willing to provide the kind of care that reflects God’s love for cherished children, like Sabina. Gold standard surgery in the world’s poorest places! Thank you for welcoming one of these little children in Jesus’ name.
Please will you prayerfully consider sending a gift today to help give the Miracle of Sight to more adults and children, like Sabina, living in the world’s poorest places. Your generosity will help restore their sight, giving them a better future. Thank you for caring and being willing to help break the cycle of poverty and disability.