A Father of Eight Regains his Sight and his Independence

Ergicho Godebo, father of eight after successful cataract surgery

We are keeping everyone in our thoughts during this difficult time of COVID-19 crisis. WEEMA is working with our team in Ethiopia to help increase awareness and cautionary methods in our regions of work. We will share more on these efforts next week. For today, here is an uplifting story from one of our cataract patients: 

In WEEMA’s third feature of our 2020 Cataract Campaign patients, we are happy to share the story of Ergicho Godebo. 

Ergicho is a proud 60 year old farmer who traveled 2 hours by bus to make it to the cataract campaign. He wasn’t able to farm on his own for the past 6 years after he lost sight in both his eyes due to cataracts. Ergicho has 8 kids, some of which were forced to stay and help him with the family farm during the years when he had no sight. So, when he heard about this year’s campaign on the radio, he was excited to be part of it. 

Ergicho is now looking forward to regaining his independence and not being a burden to his family. WEEMA is happy to be part of such a campaign that not only positively impacts the lives of the patients themselves but their families and their communities at large, (allowing them to live dignified lives. )

Photo credit: Martha Tadesse (@Marthinolly)

Ergicho right after his successful cataract surgery.