Simila's Story

Simila wants to become a doctor, but she often has to stay home from school to help Rose. Sadly, Rose has never seen the face of her youngest daughter.

Rose and Simila live in a thatch hut, a ten hour drive from Nairobi in northern Kenya. Rose is blind and heavily depends on her daughter. If she’s sick or has to leave the hut, Simila has to stay home from school to help her.

In the hope of fixing Rose’s sight, she and Simila made the trip to the Baragori District Hospital. A hundred other people were there too. All had heard doctors were coming to help make blind people see again.
 
Dr James Maina, a Kenyan eye surgeon who had been trained by The Foundation, examined Rose. He discovered she had severe cataract scarring in both eyes. One eye was too damaged to repair and the other eye only had a small hope of improvement. Dr Maina wanted to try and operate, for the sake of Rose and little Simila, who was standing there clutching her mother’s arm. 

A day after the operation, Dr Maina removed the bandage. While Rose’s sight wasn’t completely restored, the operation had helped her less damaged eye.

"We, in Africa, owe Fred Hollows so much. He taught us that restoring sight is possible."
- James Maina

Rose can now see colours, shapes and when someone is approaching or moving away. While Rose will never fully regain her sight, her life has greatly improved and she can rely less on Simila. This is an important step to get Simila back at school and hopefully closer to her dream of being a doctor.

"I can see colours and I can see shapes. I have not seen colour for many years."
- Rose