Letter from the Executive Director – Spring 2021

"Over the years the Grateful Dead and extended family have had the opportunity to profoundly benefit hundreds of thousands of people through Seva's programs...Let's keep it rolling..." — BOB WEIR, Musician/Songwriter

Dear Friends,

Springtime brings a sense of renewal, and after a year of uncertainty with COVID-19 looming over everyone’s fate, many parts of the world can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Here in the US, with the rollout of various vaccines, I am reminded that in many parts of the rest of the world, people are still struggling with COVID, access to care, and even more significant health challenges due to the various mutations. Scientists have moved mountains; yet we must ensure that the work to save lives continues. For Seva, the work continues with safety first, as we provide life-saving and essential eye care needs to some of the world’s most marginalized communities

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Beauty & Soul at Sing Out for Seva 2021

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Photo: Rising Appalachia for Seva’s 3rd Virtual Quarantine Concert: Sing Out for Seva!

From March 26-28, musicians, singers, and supporters gathered together online for our annual “Sing Out for Seva” concert. For three wonderful days, artists helped raise funds for Seva’s programs and threw a bright, beautiful celebration of all we’ve managed to accomplish this year. On popular demand, the concert streaming was extended till April 11th. This was the third virtual concert benefiting Seva that has taken place since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

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Seva Contributes to Groundbreaking Report

As a public health organization that has been active for over 40 years in 20+ countries, Seva has amassed a great deal of information pertaining to the safe and effective delivery of eye care. To bring this knowledge to the forefront, Seva recently sponsored the Lancet Commission Report on Global Eye Health and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness’ Vision Atlas. This groundbreaking new report and research tool provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of eye care and a roadmap for how to proceed in creating a world free of avoidable blindness. 

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Retina Camera Breakthrough

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Photo courtesy: Remedio Innovative Solutions

For over four decades, Seva has been on the cutting edge of innovative humanitarian eye care. Today, our AIDS Eye Initiative stands on the cusp of another exciting breakthrough: a camera that can quickly and easily detect blindness-causing infections and life-threatening Tuberculosis in people living with AIDS. Most of these 38 million people live in low and middle income countries with weak health care systems.

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SOOR AUR SAPTAK Celebrates 10 Years of Music, Dance and Transforming Lives!

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Soor Aur Saptak

On February 27, Indian-American singing group Soor Aur Saptak (SAS) threw their 10th annual benefit concert for Seva! The event, which took place virtually this year, showcases the stunning beauty of Indian music, singing, and dancing. More than a thousand people watched the show. Viewers attended this program from the USA, India, Australia, Canada, Philippines, UAE, Czech Republic, and other places in Europe.  

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Ramesh Gets His Sight Back!

Ramesh is a 60-year old daily wage farmer living in Naujheel, a town in the north of India. He earns a total of $6 to $7 per day with which he supports his three sons (all of whom are out-of-work) as well as their children. But a little over a year ago, his vision began to get blurry. Working in the fields became much more difficult, and before long he needed help to perform even basic household tasks. Ramesh didn’t know what to do. He didn’t have money to see a doctor and he needed his sight to make any money.

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Seva Programs Soar Past their Goals

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Photo: Our partner – Quasem Foundation opened this VC on September 19th 2020. Patients getting screened at Seva-supported Domar Vision Center in Bangladesh.

Even in a year as challenging as 2020, Seva’s programs soared. Between June and December of last year, we supported six new vision centers. Now we’re on track to fund a total of 30 by June 30, 2021 (beating our goal of 13)! Our largest number of these new vision centers are in India; others are located in Nepal, Cambodia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru. This year also marks our first vision centers in Latin America!

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