He was going blind,
and there were mountains in his way.

Chawan Lopchan, 8, and his dad, Raj Kumar Lopchan, 26, endured a difficult 15km journey by foot through hills and jungle to access treatment at Hetauda Community Eye Hospital.
 
Unfortunately, Chawan’s condition was complex and required treatment at Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology in Kathmandu. Chawan had congenital cataracts, but for the past three years his parents thought he was avoiding school work and house chores.
 
“We thought he was being naughty. We would tell him to do things and he wouldn’t do it.”
 
Chawan kept attending school but he could hardly see the lessons and was falling behind in his work. Chawan’s eye problems were detected at a screening camp at school and his father sought help.
 
Raj Kumar is a farmer and without the support of The Fred Hollows Foundation, he wouldn’t be able to afford treatment for his son.
 
Blindness wasn’t only affecting Chawan’s education, but also his livelihood. Without proper sight, Chawan would spend his days sitting in the family’s front yard, unable to see mosquitos biting him.

Blindness limits a child’s access to education and ability to learn.

Up to 75% of children’s learning and development is acquired through vision. Childhood blindness can adversely affect psychomotor, social, and emotional development. For example, childhood blindness is associated with delays in crawling and walking. 

Three-quarters of the world’s children who are blind live in the poorest regions of Africa and Asia, where the prevalence is high, and the child population is large. It is because of a higher prevalence of risk factors for blindness in these countries – such as measles, vitamin A deficiency, and cerebral malaria – and because eye health services are inadequate or lacking in many poorer countries.

Many children who are blind may be difficult to reach as they are prevented from interacting with their peers and society because of stigma. When they grow up, adults who are blind are three times more likely to be unemployed, three times more likely to be involved in a motor vehicle accident, three times more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety disorders, and twice as likely to have a fall while walking.

The good news is, nine out of ten who are blind don’t need to be. 

Eventually, when an eye screening was held at his school, Chawan was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes.

His father Raj was desperate to help his son. So Raj and Chawan walked 15km over hills and through the jungle to reach their closest community eye hospital.  

It was not enough. Chawan's case was complex and he needed specialist surgery. 

Raj could not afford the operation to restore his son’s sight, or even the cost of transport to get there. Then something truly wonderful happened. Supporters like you made it possible for Chawan to travel to Kathmandu for eye surgery.

It is always a nervous time when we see patients after surgery. Chawan was quiet and his dad was anxious. 

When the patch was lifted, Chawan couldn't stop smiling. Raj was overjoyed to see the change in his son. He knew that Chawan’s future was now so much brighter. 

“I want to show him the world and teach him to help other people,” Raj said. 

Help Nepal to improve eye health services

Today, there are 185,000 people in Nepal who are urgently waiting for cataract surgery. The Fred Hollows Foundation has worked with the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology (TIO) since 3 decades ago. 

Through partnering with the TIO, The Foundation has screened almost 2.7 million people in Nepal, and provided over 900,000 eye treatments including cataract surgery in the past five years alone. 

Now, The Foundation is working with TIO to establish a new Community Eye Hospital in Nijgadh, a town in one of Nepal’s most disadvantaged provinces. Chawan is not an isolated case. With this new hospital, we can largely expand services to people in need.

Your partnership with us will change lives for people. Please donate to support now.