Sammy 
This is a story about a little boy named Sammy.
Just three years ago, Sammy got the best Christmas present ever.
Sammy, then two and a half, had congenital cataracts removed from both of his eyes. For the first time, he could see more than a faint light. And his joy was written all over his face.
In the space of a couple of days, Sammy went from a sad, dejected little boy, to a delightful cherub filled with wonder at the world.
The world of this child, and tens of thousands of people like him, has changed forever by the generousity of people who give to The Fred Hollows Foundation.
Sammy lives in Eritrea, one of the poorest countries in the world perched on the edge of the Red Sea in the northern most corner of Africa bordered by Sudan to the west, and Ethiopia and Djibouti to the south. Eritrea still reels from a 30 years war of independence with Ethiopia, a fragile peace still shaken by border clashes with Ethiopia.
The fact that Sammy could get a cataract operation in such a poor country is in no small part due to the sheer vision and determination of the late Fred Hollows.
Fred loved Eritrea with a passion, and Eritrea loved him too. He first visited in 1986 when Eritrea was still fighting for independence from Ethiopia.
To Fred's never-ending amazement, he found a country of determined, committed and innovative people. They were manufacturing medical supplies and running a hospital underground in the mountains, while bombs fell around.
Fred decided then and there, that if they could do that underground, they could make intraocular lenses (IOLs) underground too, if they had to. Cataracts were the most common form of blindness in the country, caused in part by poor nutrition and significantly by the extraordinarily brilliant light of this desert country all year round.
That was the beginning of Fred's campaign to build a lens factory in Eritrea.
One of Fred's great strengths was that when he decided to do something, nothing was going to get in his way. This might upset people from time to time, but in Fred's mind it was always worth it.
But Fred's vision did not mean he did it all himself. His commitment was to train the Eritreans to do it for themselves. He wanted a program that would endure long after he was gone.
He visited Eritrea several times to get the program in place, taking other surgeons to teach modern cataract surgery to five ophthalmic assistants, to follow up on training and to deliver equipment.
Fred died in 1993, but after his death, The Foundation became further involved, training an eye doctor and several paramedic cataract surgeons.
The Fred Hollows Intraocular Lens Laboratory was officially opened in Asmara in 1994. It's located on Fred Hollows Street, not far from the Fred Hollows Kindergarten!
This factory produces lenses to international standards and is a major source of export income for the beleaguered country of Eritrea.
The work that has been done in Eritrea to restore sight (more than 50,000 people can now see again) should be a matter of national pride for Australians.
On Fred's first visit to Eritrea he met a surgeon named Dr Desbele (Des) Ghebreghergis -- now the Medical Director of Birhan Hospital in Asmara -- who was working for the Eritrean Liberation Front.
Fred soon organised for Des to visit Sydney, where he spent one year training with Fred at the Prince of Wales Hospital. On his return, Fred organised for the delivery of a microscope and other equipment.
It was Desbele who operated on little Sammy.
Sammy was so young when he had his first operation that he couldn't have the IOLs implanted (we have to wait until his eyes are sufficiently developed). He has been wearing those hideous, thick Coke-bottle glasses for the past three years.
Any day now we hope to hear that Sammy will have the second stage of his treatment-- a further operation to insert Fred Hollows IOLs from the Asmara factory.
We have made enormous progress in eye health in the capital city Asmara. Although there is always more to be done, the biggest challenge now is to increase the number of people who are being treated in the under-resourced regional centres.
Eritrea, like so many of the countries where The Fred Hollows Foundation works, is desperately poor. Three quarters of the people are malnourished. A shocking drought has wreaked havoc in the agricultural sector. Refugees from Sudan are fleeing to Eritrea to escape war and drought in their own country.
But in this sea of hardship lies little pockets of joy. Sammy's father is deeply devoted to him and sat by his bed, feeding him, walking him and stroking him during his first hospitalisation.
Sammy can now play, run, make friends like other little boys his age and will soon go to school.
It was Fred's vision and incredible determination that laid the foundations for all the work that The Fred Hollows Foundation has done.
