Dipendra
Help give the Miracle of Sight so more adults and children, like Dipendra, can live life to the full…
Please send your sight-saving gift today!
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12
As Christmas draws near, we pray you and your loved ones are surrounded by light, joy and peace in this season. Yet as we think of the star over Bethlehem, we’re reminded of children like Dipendra, who cannot see the stars, because cataracts are blurring and blinding their eyes.
Dipendra is such a brave boy. In his steep valley in Nepal – so hazardous for a child who cannot see – he never complained as his sight faded. Even his parents could not tell he was becoming blind.
He simply kept going to school, squinting at the blackboard as the letters melted together. He thought that was how the world looked for everyone.
Isn’t that an extraordinary thought – that children may not know they are losing their sight.
In the world’s poorest places there are so many children whose vision is being stolen by cataracts. Stars fading. Beloved faces blurring away. Words and letters becoming impossible to read. Children’s futures dimming into darkness.
Today, for Christmas, will you please prayerfully consider giving children like Dipendra their Miracle of Sight. Help replace their blinding cataracts with clear, new lenses… and futures full of hope. Thank you so very much.
It was no wonder Dipendra’s parents had not noticed the failing of his sight. His father, Man Bahadur, rarely sees him in the daylight. He is up before dawn, searching for work as a day labourer, then he works well into the dusk, just to keep the family fed.
It was Dipendra’s teacher who finally noticed the little boy leaning far too closely into his schoolbook – struggling to read his letters. He was very concerned for Dipendra as he knew that without an education Dipendra’s future would be bleak. He spoke to one of his colleagues, who knew someone who knew what to do. These are the community links that help cbm find children like Dipendra, even in the most remote places.
Soon a cbm-funded eye hospital field worker named Krishna – supported by wonderful friends like you – was journeying up the steep hillside towards Dipendra’s tiny village.
Krishna examined Dipendra’s eyes. What he saw in his eyes turned the family’s world upside down. Dipendra had cloudy cataracts growing in both eyes.
These blinding white disks were so far advanced, it seemed likely that Dipendra was actually born with cataracts. Through his eleven years of life, the cataracts had become more dense and white, to the point where he had lost most of his vision.
Can you imagine discovering your bright, gentle son was losing the gift of sight?
That he had gone so long without saying anything, because he did not want to complain?
And that you, as a parent, could never afford to pay for his medical treatment?
That powerlessness is the stark reality for Dipendra’s family. Paying for cataract surgery was more than they could ever earn in an entire year. Without help, their little boy would spend the rest of his life completely blind and unable to earn his living.
This Christmas, in a season celebrating God’s most amazing miracle, please prayerfully consider sending a loving gift to make the Miracle of Sight come true for families who have no other hope.
Your gift will bless children like Dipendra with a whole lifetime of sight.
Dipendra’s Miracle of Sight journey began on the back of a motorbike – the only transport that could reach his remote valley. From there, it was a six-hour bus ride that was very uncomfortable and challenging for him.
Away from the shadows of his valley, his cataracts turned the bright Himalayan sun into a stinging haze. You know what sunstrike is like through a windscreen – imagine that painful blinding glare, inside Dipendra’s eyes.
Their destination was the city of Biratnagar, on the southern plain right beside the border with India. The bus dropped them off in the centre of town.
The bustle of the city was overwhelming for young Dipendra. The crowded street, the horns from the fleets of three-wheeler taxis, would be a blur to any child from the silent mountain valleys. For Dipendra, virtually blind, the busy city haze was totally confusing.
Holding tightly to his father’s hand, together they walked through the city chaos towards the oasis of calm and care, that kind people like you so generously support – the Biratnagar Eye Hospital.
What a blessing this hospital is to children and adults who are losing their sight, from across Nepal, and from India as well.
Inside the children’s ward, Dipendra sat quietly beside his father as nurses examined his eyes under the bright slit-lamp. His cataracts were dense and white. They discovered that in his left eye, two-thirds of his sight was being blocked. In his right eye it was even worse – three-quarters of his vision was gone.
Despite losing so much sight because of cataracts, his eye surgeon, Dr Pawan, was very optimistic. “I am expecting good vision after cataract surgery,” he said. In each working day he performs multiple cataract operations, bringing the Miracle of Sight to many people at a low cost – while still delivering gold-standard surgery.
Please support Dr Pawan and other surgeons like him in their sight-saving work.
Most younger children are given a general anaesthetic, because eye surgery is too upsetting for them to be awake. As Dipendra was older, the possibility of having just a local anaesthetic was discussed, and agreed to by his father.
They set a plan for the next few days for Dipendra’s Miracle of Sight. First, to do the right eye, and once this was healed, to do the left eye.
Dipendra was nervous about his first operation, but determined. He wanted to stay awake through his life-changing experience.
Early the next morning, Dipendra changed into his maroon hospital gown. His father waited with him as Dipendra courageously received a local anaesthetic. “You are a brave boy,” an eye technician encouraged him. He did well. Soon, he was ready for his surgery.
Lying perfectly still and wide awake, Dipendra’s Miracle of Sight took two successful surgeries of around twenty minutes each – such a short time to change a young life completely.
In both surgeries, the blinding disks were removed. Crystal clear new lenses were skilfully slipped into his eyes – then soft pads and big green protective eye covers were taped across his face, to give him a safe night of healing.
Each time his father sat with him in the darkness, listening to the quiet hum of the ward and thanking God for the loving friends he had never met in New Zealand, whose gifts had made this vital surgery possible.
Early in the morning after both surgeries, Dipendra would sit on his bed, swinging his legs, ready and eager to see if his Miracle of Sight had been successful.
Each time the nurse’s hands gently approached his face to carefully lift away the tape, Dipendra couldn’t help squeezing his eyelids shut – afraid to hope. But he didn’t need to worry.
After each successful surgery, light flooded in. Sharper shapes. Brighter colours. He could see the nurse’s smile – and his father’s eyes, brimming with grateful tears.
“Yes!” he whispered, blinking. “I can now see clearly – from both my eyes!”
The nurse held up her fingers. “How many?” she asked. Three, then two, then four. Dipendra grinned happily, as he was getting each and every test 100% correct!
Outside the hospital, ready to leave, Dipendra looked very cool in ultra-dark glasses designed to protect his new vision from Nepal’s alpine glare. His father was filled with gratitude for the love and care, given by kind people like you, to his son.
“I am very happy that the cataracts have been removed from my son’s eyes. I am very grateful for all your support.”
Without caring hearts like yours, this could never have happened. The course of Dipendra’s entire life has been changed forever. His future is brighter. He will be able to live independently and shape his own future.
This is truly a wonderful and humbling experience to be part of. But right now, in places like Nepal, there are still many children waiting for surgery, in the painful blur of cataract blindness.
Please, if you can, send your Miracle of Sight gift for Christmas today. Your gift will help find children and adults with treatable blindness living in the world’s poorest places, and it will help cbm-funded Eye Hospitals, like Biratnagar, perform the Miracle of Sight through gold standard surgery.
However you give, please do it today or as soon as you can. Thank you for being willing to give the Miracle of Sight, and for shining the light of Christ into the world’s poorest places. Your kindness this Christmas will bring sight for a lifetime, for more brave children, like Dipendra!
No longer blinded by his cataracts, Dipendra says “I can see clearly! Now I realise how blurred my sight was. I am very happy.”
Happiness as bright as the Bethlehem star – that is how your gift for the Miracle of Sight will shine this Christmas. Please prayerfully consider sending your kind gift today.
Thank you so very much for your generosity to transform the lives of children and adults with disabilities in the world’s poorest places. May God bless you and your loved ones this Christmas.
