Your gift can help more people like Gepeso receive sight-saving cataract surgery and reclaim their independence.
The elderly grandmother from a remote village in Papua New Guinea had just finished getting ready for church. As she stepped onto the road, she suddenly realised she could no longer see where she was walking.
“I could not see the road clearly,” she recalls.
A young boy happened to be nearby. Gepeso reached out and asked him to take her hand and guide her safely to church.
It was the beginning of a frightening new reality. Within weeks, cataracts had stolen her independence
“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known... I will turn the darkness into light before them.” – Isaiah 42:16
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Unable to see, Gepeso could no longer cook her own meals. She couldn’t tend the family garden that had sustained her for years. She couldn’t even walk safely to the toilet without someone leading her there.
“My children would take me out during the day,” she says. “I could not cook on my own... I could not go to the garden. I could not go to the toilet on my own.”
Instead, she remained inside while others cared for her every need.
For someone who had spent a lifetime looking after others, suddenly becoming completely dependent was heartbreaking.
Even her precious garden slowly disappeared beneath weeds and overgrowth.
“My garden has turned into bushes,” she said with a heavy heart.
Sadly, Gepeso’s story is far from unique.
Many live in remote communities where specialist services are days away and the cost of travel places treatment beyond reach.
Yet supporters like you are changing that.
Because of your generosity, cbm's local partners can identify cataracts, provide eye examinations and glasses, and restore sight through life-changing surgery.
Today, will you help reach even more people?
Through our Government’s Aotearoa New Zealand International Development Cooperation Programme, your gift will have 5x the impact to transform lives in Papua New Guinea!
When Gepeso learned that sight-saving cataract surgery was possible, she could hardly believe it.
Like so many people living in Papua New Guinea's remote communities, Gepeso had to travel a great distance to reach cbm's partner, the Goroka Eye Unit.
In just 12 minutes of delicate surgery, the cloudy cataract that had stolen her sight was carefully removed and replaced with a clear artificial lens. A procedure that is routine for skilled eye surgeons, yet utterly life-changing for someone like Gepeso.
Then came the moment she had been praying for. The removal of her eye patch.
"My eyes are now open. Before, I was in the dark, and after the eye operation, I can see clearly."
The very first people she saw were the doctors and nurses who had cared for her.
What joy that must have been. But perhaps even more precious was what came next.
"Now I can help myself. I can go to the toilet by myself. I can go to the garden, and market, and do everything by myself."
In a matter of minutes, cataract surgery gave back the freedom that blindness had stolen. The independence most of us take for granted had been restored.
With deep gratitude, Gepeso shared these beautiful words:
"The important thing is that I was in the dark and you came and helped me. I don't have anything to give you. I can only say thank you. You are in my heart."
During my recent visit to Papua New Guinea, I witnessed the extraordinary difference supporters like you are making.
I was privileged to watch patients experience the moment their eye patches were removed after surgery. Your generosity reaches people you may never meet, yet whose lives are changed forever because you chose to care.
Today, you can help more children and adults with avoidable blindness receive the sight-saving treatment they urgently need.
Murray celebrates with Monica (left) and Solonu (right) after cataract surgery restored their sight and independence.
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