Outside Kampot, Cambodia, Chan rides his bike, collecting discarded bottles to earn income to support himself and his six grandchildren. Before surgery, failing vision made the work exhausting and dangerous. He relied on his grandchildren for help, even as he carried the responsibility of keeping the family going.
Tag: Cambodia
Letter from the CEO/Executive Director – Spring 2026
Something has shifted. After decades of restoring sight – one surgery, one pair of glasses, one village at a time, Seva has crossed a threshold and I want you to be the first to understand what that means.
The research coming out of Guatemala this year stopped me cold. When we gave coffee harvesters eyeglasses, productivity jumped 8% within days. Every dollar spent returned $30 in combined wages and farm income. That result didn’t come from a new technology or a capital campaign. It came from a systems approach we have been quietly perfecting for 47 years; the disciplined belief that if you build the right infrastructure, train the right people, and measure what actually matters, the returns compound in ways that surprise even us.
Continue readingA Boat with an Oar. A Boy with Sight.
Nine-year-old Sarun lives in Puok, a district in Siem Reap where the light is bright and unfiltered, and where childhood is stitched together from schoolbooks, cousins, and the long absence of parents working far away.
Continue readingBuilt to Last: Eye Care in Cambodia
For more than 25 years, Seva Foundation has been steadily changing the view in Cambodia. Since 1999, Seva’s long-term partnerships with national ministries, hospitals, and local nonprofits have helped reduce the country’s blindness rate from 1.2% to just 0.37%.
Continue readingMay is Healthy Vision Month. This is how sight united three generations of women.
In Battambang, Cambodia, three generations of women run a family car wash. It’s a life built on grit, love, and long days, but for 20 years, there was a missing piece at the center of their home.
At 74, Phen Mao lived in a blur. After she lost her sight, her daughter, Lorb, carried the added weight of the business and her mother’s safety. “Almost 20 years ago, she lost her sight,” Lorb said. “I worried about her constantly.”
Last month, that 20-year wait ended in just 15 minutes.
Continue readingNew Vision Centers Bring Cambodia into Focus
Across the countryside of Cambodia, the rice fields shimmer, and motorbikes hum along narrow roads lined with homes on stilts. Farmers tend their crops under the radiant sun, and grandparents watch children chase one another through temple courtyards. Life here is vibrant, industrious, and deeply rooted in tradition. But when vision begins to fade, daily life, from farming to studying to sewing, becomes difficult and uncertain.
To bring essential eye care access closer to these communities, Seva Foundation opened four new Vision Centers in Pea Reang District, Puok District, Prey Kabbas District, and Batheay District. Established in collaboration with local partners, Cambodia’s Provincial Health Departments, and through the National Program for Eye Health of the Ministry of Health, these permanent facilities represent lasting change.
Continue readingThe Power of Showing Up – With You
On my desk sits a photo of Milka, a three-year-old girl from Burundi who received her first pair of glasses years ago thanks to supporters like you. In the picture, she wears bright pink frames that rest a little wide on her small face, and tucked over her arm is a tiny pocketbook – an accessory that somehow makes her look both playful and unmistakably determined. There’s a confidence in her expression, a look that tells me we will all be working for her someday.
Continue readingGood news from Seva
Every day, because of you, more people are seeing clearly – some for the first time ever.
Continue readingEmpowering Cambodia’s Next Generation
Seva and Cambodia’s Ministry of Education are teaming up to screen 20,000 students and catch vision problems early.
Continue readingThe Fabric of Life, Woven in Baskets and Birthdays
Cows, chickens, dogs, kids both human and four-legged play and hang out in the fields of Kansaeng, a corner of Siem Reap, Cambodia that leans on agriculture—and women—for its livelihood.
Continue reading
