Aboubakar felt like he had small stones in his eyes

Aboubakar was just six when his eyes started hurting.

Like many others in Cameroon, he’d caught trachoma, which later turned into trichiasis – a severe condition that causes the eyelids to turn inwards and makes your eyelashes scrape against the eye, leading to eventual blindness.

Luckily, we were able to reach Aboubakar and take him to hospital for trichiasis surgery before he suffered any permanent damage. As soon as the bandages were removed from his eyes, the world seemed to open up to him once again, and a smile swept across his face. After years of agony, he could see without pain again and even started playing with another boy on his ward, comparing what they could see!

Explore our work in Cameroon and how we were able to help Aboubakar by clicking through the white circles on the interactive map below. 

An estimated 47,200 people need trichiasis surgery in Cameroon, and in the two northernmost regions there are 4.2 million people at risk of trachoma.

Due to limited resources, difficult journeys and the threat of conflict, it’s hard to reach those most in need of our help.

With your generosity, we can train more volunteers to deliver screenings. Your contribution will allow us to operate on people in their communities, and give our teams everything they need to get children to hospital for life-changing surgery.

We are ending trachoma in Cameroon and your gift could free someone from the agony of the disease and help save their precious sight. Thanks to supporters like you, we can help people like Aboubakar and protect them from a lifetime of pain and blindness.