Celebrating Steps Towards an Ethiopia Free of Curable Blindness!

Today, we are excited to announce a new specialty eye center being built in Ethiopia by our partner organization, the Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP).  WEEMA and HCP have been long-time partners in organizing an annual high-volume surgical cataract campaign to restore sight for thousands of patients in south-western Ethiopia. Together, we screen an average of 10,000 patients and operate on at least 1,000 patients every year. However, there is a long way to go as Ethiopia still has a backlog of 800,000 people with preventable blindness. 

So, today we celebrate HCP’s upcoming eye center being built in northern Ethiopia and projected to provide an estimated 45,500 cataract surgeries and 254,500 eye examinations in the first 5 years of operations. In commemoration of this outstanding news, we share our most heartwarming video of this year’s cataract campaign directed by Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Mary Olive Smith. 

Video credit:
     Mary Olive Smith
     Director & Cinematographer
     Emmy Award-winning Director for Walk to Beautiful

Photo credit:
     Martha Tadesse   @Marthinolly 

A member of the team prepares to give an eye exam at the campaign.