In 1992 Tran Van Giap was seven years old. The little boy had extremely poor vision in one eye.

Giap’s father, a Vietnamese war veteran who worked as a farmer in one of the country's poorest rural areas, took him to Hanoi by train to seek help.

The doctors at the Hanoi Institute of Ophthalmology examined him and found that Giap's problem was very complicated. They told Giap’s father that Fred Hollows was coming to Hanoi the following week and that he might be able to help.

Giap’s father decided to wait to see Fred.

When Fred and the surgical team arrived, Giap and his father were distressed to discover the team was there to train doctors in operating on people over 15 years old who had cataracts in both eyes. That was not Giap.

Giap was discharged from the Institute, but he and his father decided to hang around to see if they could talk to Fred.

One morning they saw Fred in the hospital courtyard with a group of people. Giap managed to get Fred’s attention and Fred asked the little boy what his name was.

Fred found out that Giap had the same name as a Vietnamese general he had long admired for defeating the French in 1952.

After chatting with the little boy, Fred decided to admit him for an operation as a demonstration of how to treat a complicated case.

Dr Sanduk Ruit  – a member of Fred’s team and now Director of the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology in Kathmandu – operated on Giap.

Six days later, Giap was discharged from hospital – his vision had improved dramatically.

Fred died just six months after Giap’s operation, and ever since then the black and white picture of Fred and little Giap has helped raise money so The Foundation can continue Fred’s vital work to end avoidable blindness.

In 2006, Giap wrote to Gabi Hollows, explaining that his good fortune in meeting Fred had always motivated him “to become a good man for the society”. He was now studying mathematics and teaching; the first step towards that goal.

Upon meeting Giap for the first time, Gabi said, "Today, Tran Van Giap is a confident and able young man. He is the first of his farming family to attend university and hopes to become a teacher. His goal is to use his skills to help others - Fred would be so proud!"

Giap also said that it had always been his dream to visit Australia to make an offering of incense at Fred’s grave.

In 2008, on the 15^th anniversary of Fred’s death, he did just that.

The course of Giap’s life was changed forever when he met Fred Hollows and The Foundation eye team.

We need your help so that we can keep helping children like little Giap.

Even a small gift makes a big difference.