Beneficaries
Zubaida Bibi
Thanks to the vision and determination of Professor Fred Hollows, more than one million people just like Zubaida Bibi, celebrate the precious gift of sight.Zubaida, the millionth person whose life has been positively changed forever by The Fred Hollows Foundation, is now able to live independently.
Living in a remote rural village of Pakistan, about 40 kilometres outside of Lahore, forty year old Zubaida previously lived a life of dependency. As her sight gradually worsened she was forced to stop working and became totally reliant on her family.
Zubaida depended on her daughters for daily support. She was not able to walk by herself, prepare food or eat independently.
As the sole earner for the family, Zubaida's loss of vision also put a big strain on the family. Her daughters were not able to work unaccompanied in the local fields, her husband was unable to work as he suffered from tuberculosis and their seven year old son had just started school.
While modern cataract surgery costs as little as $25 in some developing countries, Zubaida and her family simply couldn't afford the operation.
Thanks to The Foundation's extensive AusAID funded program in Pakistan these barriers were able to be overcome and the one millionth Fred Hollows intraocular lens (IOL) was inserted into Zubaida's eye in early 2003 - just over ten years after The Foundation was first established.
Zubaida visited Sheikhupura District Hospital with her daughter Abida, where Dr Abdul Bari performed the surgery.
The Fred Hollows IOL was inserted into her eye, literally "restoring light not only to her but to her entire family," said The Foundation's Pakistan Country Manager, Dr Rubina Gillani.
The operation was successful and within 24 hours Zubaida's sight was restored. Only a week later she was living independently again and life for her and her family had dramatically improved.
Zubaida now walks on her own, prepares food, provides for her family and smiles in the knowledge that her sight has been restored and her life changed forever.
Muhammed Akbar
Muhammad Akbar is a retired machine operator for a ghee mill and lives in the Zawanikhel village of Nowshera District, Pakistan. He had suffered deteriorating sight due to bilateral cataracts for years and became completely blind in the last 6 months.
As Muhammad's sight became gradually worse, he became more dependent on his 18 year old grandson, Asghar Ali, to help him with daily chores, assisting him to walk wherever he needed to go and to narrate events for him. Muhammad felt like he was being a burden on Asghar and sad and helpless for needing his constant help.
Simple pleasures in Muhammad's life were affected by blindness. "I could not participate in many social activities, I could not greet anyone who came to visit the Hujra (male guest area in a Pathan household), I could not shake hands with them and welcome them as I could not see them; it was so depressing" Muhammad eventually stopped attending his relatives' Hujras and kept to himself at home.
Muhammad also missed the sight of his jambolan tree, which he planted a few years ago, which brought him much joy "I longed to see my jambolan tree bearing fruits, and when it did, I was blind".
Dr Gul Shad, District Ophthalmologist, operated on Muhammad's eyes at The District Head Quarter Hospital in Nowshera, North West Frontier Province. The Fred Hollows Foundation trained Dr Gul Shad in cataract surgery and upgraded the eye unit in The DHQ Hospital in Nowshera so that it contained state of the art surgical equipment. Training of staff and upgrading the unit has resulted in a higher number of cataract surgeries being performed.
After surgery, Muhammad expressed "the operation to me was a blessing from God, it has given me my life back". Asghar Ali is also pleased about his grandfather's renewed sight. "I felt sad as he always lived his life with dignity and respect but then had to seek people's help for everyday tasks. I am happy to see my grandfather leading his normal life.
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