Seva Foundation

Seva is a global nonprofit eye care organization that works with local communities around the world to develop self-sustaining programs that preserve and restore sight.

Since 1978, Seva has provided sight-saving surgeries, eyeglasses, medicine, and other eye care services to more than 40 million people in under-served communities.

A Brilliant Birthday Benefit – Thank You!

Posted on by Seva Foundation
Larry and Wavy Drawing

With headliners that included Lucinda Williams and Seth MacFarlane as host, San Francisco’s August Hall lived up to its name when Larry Brilliant’s 80th birthday celebration rolled onto its stage on August 24.

Along with BFF Wavy Gravy and his wife Jahanara Romney, Larry and Girija Brilliant, and a few hundred friends and colleagues filled the venue with what can only be described as love. Jai and Ezra Uttal, Krishna Das, and Salman Ahmed spun their special magic as they strummed and sang. Seth MacFarlane crooned songbook favorites and made the entire house – performers and audience – feel like part of the Seva community.

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History is being made in Quiche, Guatemala

Posted on by Seva Foundation
Quiche hospital groundbreaking, Guatemala.

We’re making history together!
Welcome to the first eye hospital in Quiche, Guatemala.

One step in Quiche, Guatemala, and you’ll be met by its people’s extraordinary warmth, generosity, and kindness. One of Guatemala’s most populous departments, it’s where almost one million people from diverse indigenous Mayan communities, call home. Situated in the central highlands and surrounded by two mountain ranges, Quiche is as isolated as it is beautiful. Most rely on agriculture and textiles for their livelihood. Along with this remoteness comes poverty and a lack of services, created in the aftermath of years of civil unrest. Essential health care, including vision, is simply not a reality for the majority of people who live here.

But through science, sustainable public health infrastructure, and your support – a difference is being made. 

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Two-eyed seeing: International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

Posted on by Seva Foundation
Petrona Ixcolin from Guatemala photo by Joe Raffanti.
Petrona Ixcolin from Guatemala photo by Joe Raffanti.

On August 9, join Seva in celebrating International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Since the late 70s, Seva has been honored to work alongside, learn from, and co-create sustainable eye care programs that benefit indigenous communities. Key to our success has been combining the strengths of indigenous culture, knowledge and ways of living with the latest science.

One way we achieve this is through two-eyed seeing, an approach first developed from the teachings of Chief Charles Labrador of Acadia First Nation, and later expanded on Mi’kmaq Elders, Dr. Albert and Dr. Murdena Marshall from Eskasoni First Nation. As published in the British Columbia Medical Journal, two-eyed seeing invites us to “see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges and ways of knowing, and to use both of these eyes together for the benefit of all.” 1

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