When we first met Kipar, we were stunned at how dusty this four-year-old boy was.
Kipar was dusty because he was born with cataracts in both eyes that made him almost completely blind. There was no way he could trek the 10km in order to wash himself at the nearest source of water.
The fact that Kipar was still alive is a credit to his family’s loving care. Blindness can be a death sentence for a child living in a developing country. Being born with cataracts often results in a life cut tragically short.
Kipar’s father is enormously proud of his family, and loves his son deeply. He knew something was wrong with Kipar’s eyesight, but had no idea that blindness could be treated.
Luckily for Kipar, word spread that The Fred Hollows Foundation could help. So he and his father set off, walking 25km in sweltering 35 degree heat to the nearest clinic.
The transformation in Kipar after the operation was amazing.
When he finally arrived home, he saw his family waiting in the distance. He ran to his mother, and threw his arms around her, both of them broke out into huge smiles.
His joy, and theirs, was infectious. All the work and commitment to train doctors and nurses, screen and treat patients – it’s was all worth it in that moment.
Not only has Kipar had his sight restored, he has a future ahead of him. He will no longer have to spend his days alone. He will be able to go to school, and learn to read and write.
You can help to restore sight to more people like Kipar. Will you make a donation of today?
Thanks to generous supporters like you, Kipar has a lot to smile about.
Kipar now has a bright future ahead of him, and his father has hope for his son.
“I am very, very grateful. I don’t know how I can pay people who have helped us back. People from nowhere have come and given us a lot of assistance and they are a part of me and my family now,” Kipar's father said.
We need your help now to reach more people like Kipar
Hundreds of thousands of people in Kenya are blind or suffering from cataract, and when those people are children, the situation becomes dire.
About 15% of Kenya's population needs urgent eye care
More than 328,000 people in Kenya are blind, with another 750,000 being visually impaired – yet 9 out of 10 of these people don’t need to be.
Help reach people before it is too late
If left untreated for long, diseases like cataract and trachoma can cause permanent blindness. But with your donation, you can help us get to people before it’s too late.
Give children a bright future
Kipar’s father shared his hopes for his son’s future: “Education is the key to life now. This is the way I see it … now that Kipar can see better, I will make sure that when he is of age, he will go to school.”
"To be blind in a place like this really means death"
Dr Kibata was the paediatric ophthalmologist who operated on Kipar.
"Without an operation, Kipar would be completely blind in a couple of years – probably dead by then. Whereas with a cataract operation and maybe some glasses, who knows where this child will be?”
Fred would not stand by and do nothing. We won't either.
Professor Fred Hollows made it his life's work to ensure that everyone, no matter where they are, could access quality eyecare.
He worked tirelessly to end avoidable blindness and now it’s up to us at The Foundation to continue this live-changing work. But we can’t do it without you. It’s people like you who have kept Fred’s vision alive, and allow us to carry on our sight-restoring work.
We’ve still got a long way to go and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. But Fred had great faith in the “humanitarian nature of the Australian people” and used to say that “caring about other people is what being a human is all about.”
Please donate today to help us give the gift of sight to people who would otherwise lose all hope to avoidable blindness.
"As human beings we must do things to help each other. Disequity diminishes us all."
