Growing up, Soorya Mani Rai did not have access to education — there wasn’t a local school in her area, and her parents could not afford to send her away to study. But as it is in the hills of Nepal, there is plenty to do — even for a growing child. She would spend her days grazing the goats, taking care of small household chores, or simply running around her village in a carefree manner.
Kellye Franklin recalls the devastation when her now 81-year-old father, a loyal air force veteran, tried to make his own breakfast one morning. Seven boxes of open cereal on the living room floor with milk poured directly into every one of them. He would later be diagnosed with moderate to severe dementia.
Cataracts are usually thought to affect older people, but children can also develop them — take for example, the story of 14-year-old Bipana Rai from Solukhumbu in Nepal, who was born visually impaired due to congenital cataracts.
In medical terms, Tila Maya Rai is blind. Suffering from cataracts in both of her eyes, her vision is extremely blurred. It was only a matter of time that her cataracts would mature, making her completely blind.
In Solukhumbu, ahead of a high-volume cataract outreach surgery camp by the Tej Kohli and Ruit Foundation, eye health personnel are making sure that no cataract patient will miss out on the opportunity of receiving free cataract surgery. They have mobilized their resources near and far.
Murathi Parsi experienced the first signs of cataracts when she had a headache and collapsed while working in a Nepalese field almost three years ago. “In the days that passed I remember losing my sight rapidly,” she says. At her lowest point, she could only make out hazy figures moving around her.
