In a remote area of Tibet there was a man named Sunga who had 4 daughters and all of them were blind from cataract.

The father faced a heartbreaking decision; he could only afford to bring 3 of the girls to a mobile eye camp, run by Seva Canada, A Vancouver-based charity.

The youngest daughter insisted that her older sisters go to get treatment, but once left home alone, she broke down and wept.

Upon learning that there was another blind daughter, Seva staff member Dr. Sonam Dradup hired a motorcycle to travel the 75km to find her and bring her to the camp.

At the Seva eye camp all four sisters received cataract surgery. Though saddened that they never saw the face of their mother who passed away in 1994, nothing could take the smiles off their faces or the hope they felt for the first time in their lives.

This is but just one miracle arranged by  Seva Canada, a Canadian eye care charity based in Vancouver, which turns 30 on April 6.

Since 1982, Seva Canada has restored sight and prevented blindness in the developing world, giving the power of sight to over 3 million of the world's poorest people. 

But what makes Seva different and effective is its unique approach to international development, empowering the people and communities where it works.

"Seva has grown over the past three decades as a force for good. As an innovative technical adviser, funder, and friend. Seva is helping to develop some of the strongest eye care programs in the world.” said Larry Brilliant, Seva Founder and President of Skoll Global Threats Fund.

"For 30 years, Seva Canada has supported innovation and been a catalyst for change," said Dr. Ken Bassett, Seva's Program Director.

“Over 200 million people could see tomorrow if they had access to glasses or cataract surgery. These are staggering numbers...Imagine 6 times the population of Canada and every man, woman and child are blind or have severe low vision," said Basset

"Success to Seva comes when foreign intervention is not needed at all. It involves a lot of planning, coordination with local partners, and ongoing research. With development, the goal is to build local capacity and sustainability through training local doctors and providing technology and supplies so that the work continues on an on-going basis even after Seva is no longer involved," said Penny Lyons, Executive Director of Seva Canada.

While the challenge is great, Seva has a tremendous record of success, such as principle partner Aravind Eye Care System in India.

Thirty years ago, Aravind started with 11 beds and now it is the world's largest eye care program performing 250,000 cataract surgeries per year.

Aravind demonstrated how cost recovery could be turned into financial self-sufficiency by pioneering a model of high volume, high quality care in which fees charged to those who can afford them subsidizes free or low-cost care for those who cannot. Seva now adapts this successful model for its programs in other countries around the world.

Seva's innovative sustainability model of enabling communities to care for their own now and in the future through the transfer of knowledge and support means that when someone donates $1 to a program its value is actually much greater. 

Imagine planting a seed. The seed grows into a tree that then seeds other trees, then a forest, all from the same dollar donation. That $1 helps provide eye care in the present and in the future, it keeps on working for the individual and the community.

Seva was founded by an eclectic group of professors, health professionals, members of the Centers for Disease Control and activists including; Dr. Larry Brilliant, one of the World Health Organization members who successfully eradicated smallpox in India and current president of the Skoll Global Threats Fund, spiritual teacher Ram Dass, and American entertainer and peace activist Wavy Gravy. The first sizable donation to help Seva in India and do a survey of blindness in Nepal came from the then unknown technology genius Steve Jobs.

Seva currently works in 9 developing countries including India, Nepal, Tibet, Cambodia, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Egypt and Guatemala.

Seva (pronounced say-va) is a Sanskrit word for service.

 

 

See for yourself

 

Come and celebrate Seva Canada's 30 years of restoring sight and preventing blindness in the developing world with Beyond the Darkness, a photo exhibition by international award-winning photographer Larry Louie. The exhibition takes place from April 23 - May 12, 2012 at the HSBC Pendulum Gallery, 885 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC. For full event details and information on how to RSVP to the reception on April 26 from 6-8pm visit http://www.seva.ca/anniversaryevents.htm or contact admin@seva.ca.

 

 

Seva around the world

 

Nepal • Seva has developed 20 eye care centres providing care to 5 million people, and is now supporting the development of primary eye care centres and a secondary eye hospital in far west Nepal, where no eye care previously existed.

Partner: Seva Nepal.

 

Tibet • Seva has revolutionized eye care in Tibet; funding two-thirds of all cataract surgeries there. Currently Seva is establishing Tibet’s first pediatric program and is bringing eye care to the remote region of Amdo.

Partner: Seva Tibet

 

India • Seva trains eye care providers from all of its partner countries at the world’s largest eye care provider, Aravind Eye Care System, and brings eye care to the rural poor.

Partner: Aravind Eye Care System

 

Tanzania • Seva provides funding for eye care and the training of eye care professionals from virtually every country in Africa at the Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology (KCCO).

Partner: KCCO

 

Eastern Africa • Seva is funding community ophthalmology and childhood blindness programs in Malawi, Madagascar, Burundi and Uganda

Partner: KCCO

 

Guatemala • Seva works with its partner to deliver pediatric and adult eye care programs and ensures that the poor receive treatment they deserve.

Partner: Visualiza Eye Care System

 

Egypt • Seva’s partner is the only eye care institution in Egypt providing services to the country’s rural poor.

Partner: Al Noor Magrabi Foundation