Reaching the unreachable

In the unforgiving desert landscape of northern Kenya, getting treatment for painful, debilitating eye conditions such as trachoma can be an impossible task.

Communities in the remote county of Turkana are scattered across vast areas. The nomadic way of life means people often move from one grazing area to another, seeking water and food for their livestock in the dry, dusty terrain.

Many of these areas are thousands of miles from the nearest hospitals and eye clinics, which are located in towns and cities. For many, treatment for eye conditions isn’t available, and it can become too late to save their sight.

But with your support, we’re reaching these communities to provide free eye care through local volunteers, mobile surgery teams and pop-up operating theatres.

For people like Akai and her family in remote Turkana, accessible eye care is vital. Akai had lived with trachoma for much of her life. If left untreated, the infectious eye disease causes scarring to the inside of the eyelid and pulls the eyelashes inwards, which scrape against the eye. This advanced stage of the disease is known as trichiasis.

Akai had suffered immense pain and vision loss for many years, and was worried that her sister Ing’oya and her two daughters, Ipo and Amoni, would also lose their sight to the disease.

“Living in this condition makes me sad. I can’t do anything for myself,” said Akai.

A home visit from community volunteer James confirmed Akai’s fears: it was too late to save her sight, and every adult woman in her household had trachoma. James explained that an operation would help ease Akai’s pain and that her family would be able to get treatment to prevent blindness.

Before their surgery, James visited Akai and her family to explain what to expect during and after the operation.

The next day, Akai joined her sister and two daughters to travel to a pop-up clinic at a local church, with transport provided by Sightsavers. The mobile surgical team was led by surgeons Edwin and Maurice.

After their operations, Akai and her family were given pain relief and ointment for their eyes. Their bandages were removed the following day, with Edwin and Maurice visiting them later to check their progress.

While Akai has lost her sight to trachoma, she’s relieved her daughters have been able to get treatment. “I feel happy now the pain was removed from my eyes,” she says. “My heart is happy since my children have been treated and feel better. Nobody will be holding them to help them walk.”

At least 39 countries count trachoma as a public health problem. Around 1.5 million people are blind or visually impaired because of the disease, and 103 million people are at risk of losing their sight from advanced trachoma.

With your support, we can protect people from the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness and reach those who need vital treatment across Africa.