“When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”
Call it a cliché, but when you see it in action, you know you’re witnessing something special. Seva’s partners worldwide have faced some challenging circumstances over the past twelve months, making the provision of critical eye care to people in need more difficult. But thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, when the going got tough, the tough could get going!
Take for example, Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital (SCEH), one of our partners in Uttar Pradesh, India. When COVID-19 hit India hard last year, many people who needed eye care weren’t able to visit the clinic. So in the town of Naujheel, the clinic’s team took eye care to the people’s doorsteps instead.
Our partner staff show up at the vision center in Naujheel, have their temperatures taken, get their supplies together, and jump on motorbikes. Wearing Sunglasses, face masks, and jackets, they looked like an elite strike force from an action movie.
The team’s objective: to screen every single person in the community for any eye-related issues. Rather than risk contracting the virus at the clinic, residents of Naujheel were screened in their own homes.
Kashmira, a devoted mother, recounts how these screenings saved her son Naveen’s sight -“We didn’t find out [about Naveen’s squint] ourselves. The outreach workers came to our house to provide screening and they told us. Otherwise, we would have never found out what the problem was with our child.”
The outreach team told Kashmira to bring her son to the vision center for diagnosis and treatment. When she explained that the family could not afford vision care, the workers assured her that it would be free of charge. The clinic referred Naveen to the nearby Vrindavan hospital, where he received surgery free of cost. Now he says he will study hard in school and be able to play with his friends.
“They explained everything very well,” says Kashmira. “We want to thank them again and again!”
It is your support that gives our partners the strength and courage to take on such life-changing missions. So on behalf of families like Naveen’s, thank you so much!
