CureBlindness | Meet Abadit Tsegay
NBC News peacock NBC News features our work in South Sudan Watch story
Back to all News & Stories

Meet Abadit Tsegay

news | May 31, 2019

Donors like you helped restore Abadit’s eyesight

Over 36 million people are blind and unable to perform the basic tasks of daily living. The vast majority live in resource-limited countries. Over a third of these cases are due to cataracts that can be treated with a surgery taking 10 minutes at a material cost of $25. With your support, we can change a life forever.

Meet Abadit Tsegay. Abadit is an 8-year-old who had been blind for over three years. Abadit's mother died in childbirth so her aunt adopted her and was the one who brought her to the cataract outreach event stating, "I would have done and paid anything to bring her here and if this didn't work, I was going to take her to the next hospital until her blindness was cured."

Prior to surgery, Abadit was aggressive to others, having retreated into her own world of darkness. The morning after the surgery, her patches were removed and she opened her eyes to the environment around her. Dr. Geoff Tabin held up his fingers for her to count as he stepped further away from Abadit. She repeatedly identified the correct number of fingers - her vision was restored! The combative and heartbroken child who had arrived blind emerged as a young girl full of light and happiness as pictured with Dr. Tabin.

When asked what her hopes were for her daughter, Abadit's delighted adopted mother replied, "She will go to school and become a doctor now so she can return to give sight to other little blind girls."

Your donation to the Himalayan Cataract Project (cureblindness.org) helps to:

  • Deliver examination and basic treatment for over 1.6 million individuals annually
  • Provide life-transforming eye surgeries for more than 123,000 people each year
  • Train and equip local eye care teams across two continents
  • Provide access to high-quality eye care
  • Build sustainable health systems in under-resourced countries

A gift of $100 covers the material cost of four sight-restoring surgeries - give the gift of sight today by visiting: www.cureblindness.org/donate

The Himalayan Cataract Project is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with a top 4-star rating from Charity Navigator. Only 2% of charities evaluated have received at least nine consecutive 4-star evaluations, indicating that HCP outperforms most other charities in America

Make a difference today

Donate Today

Your gift changes lives. A $25 donation can help restore sight to someone living with needless cataract blindness. Thank you for supporting HCP's work to eradicate global blindness!

Donate