Current Appeal – Cataracts Zimbabwe

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Help people in the world’s poorest places, like Rodgers in Zimbabwe, receive their 12 minute miracle of sight.

Please send your gift to free adults and children from blinding cataracts, today.

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  – John 8:12

Serious disability is common in the world’s poorest places. It is not unusual to find people with multiple disabilities. Like Rodgers in Zimbabwe, who contracted polio at a very young age, and then later on in life developed a cataract. His wife also lives with two disabilities affecting both her speech and hearing.

All through life, Rodgers worked hard to provide for his family, mending shoes and clothes. But a simple, tiny cataract brought real concern to his household by reducing Rodgers’s ability to earn a living.

Please help turn darkness back to light.

Prayerfully consider sending your generous gift for cataract surgery today. By restoring sight, you will help ease the burden of avoidable blindness for adults and children in the world’s poorest places.

At 67 years old, Rodgers still had the potential of many years of productive work ahead of him, if it wasn’t for the growing cataract. He is a true overcomer, and an inventive man. He even cobbled together spare parts to create his amazing wheelchair, which has a slot for his crutches.

“I went to a welder, who put the other wheel on, so I could get around without help. I’d never had one before. When I was young, I couldn’t walk. Sometimes I can use crutches, but I get tired.”

Despite his disability, Rodgers’ clothes mending business gave him the chance to contribute to his household, alongside his wife, his brother and his nieces.

Then something started to go wrong that affected his ability to work and provide for his family: his eyesight began to fade. “I’ve been having eye problems for about four years now. Last year I realised I couldn’t see at all with that eye!”

With one eye completely blocked by a cataract, Rodgers lost his precious perception of distance. “It was affecting my work. My income. I couldn’t see clearly to work with the needle.”

Rodgers’ only answer was cataract surgery, but he and his family had no way to afford it.

Today, please help bring light back into lives, like Rodgers’. Please send your gift as soon as you can. Thank you!

Great concern struck Rodgers’ whole household. With one adult less able to contribute, how would they possibly make ends meet?

This is the disability challenge for families like Rodgers’: disability makes poverty far worse, for the whole household.

But how wonderful that generous people, like you, are prepared to shine God’s light into situations like this! Thank you for being willing to help break the cycle of poverty and disability that is overwhelming families, like Rodgers’.

Imagine losing hope every day, struggling to see the sewing needle; wondering how long you could keep this up; wondering if help is even available.

Every gift you give to help someone like Rodgers is so valuable, so transformative, so worthwhile. Cataract treatment truly is a life-changing gift – all in 12 minutes of gold-standard skillful surgery.

When a cataract is removed, in floods light, hope, freedom, self-worth, and the chance to live independently. What a wonderful gift!

In places like rural Africa, it is difficult to know where to find help. All Rodgers’ family could do was pray – so as his blindness worsened, they prayed for help.

And help did indeed come. Through the generous support of people like you, a dedicated cbm-funded partner came to Rodgers’ area with a mobile eye-screening clinic.

There his eyes were checked, and he received such exciting news. He could not believe it. “I was listed for cataract surgery!”

On the day of Rodgers’ surgery, his nieces took him to the hospital – you can see in the photo how much love they have for their uncle. His smile says it all: he is a loved, hardworking, supportive family man. At this point in his life, though, he needed the support of caring people like you.

Before the surgery Rodgers was excited and ready for his new life. “I’m hoping that tomorrow when my bandage is removed, my vision will improve. I want to go full swing with my work to earn a living for my family.”

Yet there were nerves too, in his heart. Worries. Fears. That’s understandable. How could his blinded eye really be repaired?

But Rodgers did not need to worry.

In just 12 minutes, a highly-skilled and trained surgeon opened a tiny hole in Rodgers’ eye. The misty blinding lens was gently taken out, and a brand new perfectly clear replacement lens was unfolded into place.

What a wonderment of skill and precision. So practical, so life-changing – and so needed.

That’s why your gift today is vital. For people like Rodgers, who have no hope of overcoming cataract-related blindness on their own, your generosity can bring hope, and the promise of new light in their lives.

When the bandage was lifted the very next day, Rodgers was deeply grateful for this miraculous blessing.

“I’m seeing clearly now. It’s wonderful. There is no pain! I’m happy!”

Both eyes are clear again – and so is his goal: “I am looking forward to being effective in my work and generating enough income for my family.”

Thanks to kind people, like you, what an incredible blessing this was to a man who was losing his only livelihood. Please make this possible for more people, like Rodgers, by taking a moment now to pray over what your gift today could be:

Your gift will help fund the cost of cataract surgery for adults, like Rodgers, so they can return to productive lives. It will help fund the extra costs of cataract surgery for children, including general anaesthetic, so they can have hope for a better future. And it will help fund other essential eye health services, including glasses for people whose sight has been damaged by years of cataracts.

Please consider this also: the best way to help is to spread your giving across the year, by giving monthly. This will help cbm better plan how many mobile eye-screening clinics and cataract operations can happen in the coming year.

Rodgers’ testimony is of a man’s resilience over many years, living with his polio disability. Yet what challenged his livelihood was the misting of the tiny lens in his eye.

And that is the power of eyesight. Without it, life is extremely challenging. Even more so in the world’s poorest places where access to treatment is limited.

Thank you for being willing to help adults and children who are walking in the darkness of cataract blindness, by sending your miracle gift of sight today.

With his get-on-and-do-it attitude, Rodgers would make a great Kiwi! Despite serious lifetime disability, he was able to earn a living for himself and his family by mending clothes and shoes – yet one tiny cataract threatened this. Please give more people, like Rodgers, their 12 minute Miracle of Sight, by sending your gift for cataract surgery in the world’s poorest places. Thank you for your kind and caring heart.