Beneficiaries

Yim Noang had been blind for five years and, more than anything else, she longed to see the face of her granddaughter Sun Doaun.

Of all her grandchildren, it was Sun who would most often take her grandmother Yim's hand and lead her around their village. It was Sun who watched out for her, and guided her to familiar surroundings if she faltered.  

Twenty-four hours after receiving sight restoring surgery provided by The Fred Hollows Foundation, Yim's eye patches were removed.

"Everything is different," she cried. "I can see the folders, the nurse. I am very happy. I have been re-born."

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Moen Som is old but she doesn't know how old.

In early 2001, she was one of a group of nine people to be screened at the Thnor Chum But Clinic. She was told she had cataract blindness, which could be treated by having surgery.

Moen Som was fearful to travel to an unknown fate at her nearest hospital, Kampong Thom Provincial Hospital. When she did though, her cataract was replaced with an IOL and her sight restored.

When Moen Som's eye patch was removed she could see again! She then stood up and moved slowly and surely through the nearest doorway into a hallway. If she had tried to do this before her cataract operation, Moen Som would have almost certainly walked into a wall.

With restored sight, Moen Som now has the confidence and ability to once again live an independent life.

Before Bun Chem, 65, began losing his sight he farmed rice and vegetables. At first the loss was gradual but by last year he had gone completely blind.

Fortunately Chem's wife and two children were able to care for him most of the time. They had to prepare his food, shower him and lead him to the well for drinking water.

In a country where a day without work may mean a day without food, Chem's family were often forced to leave him at home alone so they could go to the fields to cultivate rice. On these occasions Chem would guide himself around using a walking cane fashioned out of a piece of bamboo.

Chem travelled to Kampong Chhnang Eye Unit with his son on a truck for his first operation. Thanks to The Foundation's supporters, Chem received sight restoring surgery that he could not previously afford.

"When they removed the bandage I was so happy that everything was clear again," says Chem. He returned to the village and was soon surrounded by friends.

"I can see, I can see!" he exclaimed repeatedly.

Regaining his independence has had a profound effect on Chem. He can now chop firewood, tend to the cows, collect drinking water, visit the local pagoda and was even able to work on a wooden door for his daughter's house.