Blindness & Poverty

95 million people worldwide are affected by blindness or severe visual impairment due to cataracts according to the WHO. Nearly 90% of the world’s blind live in the poorest countries in the world. Cataracts in particular are disproportionately prevalent in low-and-middle-income countries, where they account for 50% of all

In medical terms, Tila Maya Rai is blind. Suffering from cataracts in both of her eyes, her vision is extremely blurred. It was only a matter of time that her cataracts would mature, making her completely blind. Thankfully, by the time of writing this story, her cataracts have been removed

63 year old Chandrawati Harijan lives in Mahilwar, Lumbini — 15 minutes west of Maya Devi Temple, the exact place where Lord Buddha was born more than 2500 years ago. Her home is a three-room poorly-constructed concrete building which she shares with her husband, son, daughter-in-law, and four grandchildren. Her cattle,

Growing up, Soorya Mani Rai did not have access to education — there wasn’t a local school in her area, and her parents could not afford to send her away to study. But as it is in the hills of Nepal, there is plenty to do — even for a growing

One of the underreported tragedies of our time is that nearly 90% of the world’s blind live in low-income countries where poverty and blindness perpetuate in a descending cycle. The main cause of this often needless and frequently avoidable blindness is cataracts, which affect 95 million people worldwide. In