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Patients for the day lined up at one of our cataract camps
Alasana Touray, one of our excellent surgeons, at work.
One of the charts used to assess ‘acuity’ before surgery
Patients post-operation in The Gambia
Some of the equipment kindly donated to us packaged up ready for its trip to The Gambia
WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED
Since its formation in April 2019, Cataract are Curable has achieved the following:
More than £86,000 has been raised (31/12/2023)
1,434 people have had their sight restored (26/11/2024) at cataract camps spread throughout The Gambia.
A large amount of ophthalmic equipment has been procured and shipped to the National Eye Health Programme.
HOW IT STARTED
In 2011, Violet and Jim Phillips went to The Gambia for a holiday to see the sights and observe the wonderful bird life. They were struck by the level of poverty there and resolved to assist one family by supporting one of their sons’ education. The following year they became active members of the Friends of The Gambia (FoTGA) and ran the education sponsorship scheme for six years.
In 2014, a committee member suggested that FoTGA should fund a Cataract Camp.
Sightsavers International had been active in The Gambia for many years. They had played a major part in setting up a well-equipped scheme for the provision of eye care in The Gambia. They supplied buildings, vehicles, instruments and training for the surgeons and the technicians. Sightsavers provided funds for Cataract Camps in The Gambia up until 2013 when they changed the focus of their attention to the elimination of trachoma.
The Gambia has now been declared totally free of trachoma. Read more about Sightsavers at www.sightsavers.org
Funds were allocated and the first FoTGA funded cataract camp took place in Soma in November 2014. Several FoTGA committee members were able to go and observe proceedings.
Jim and Violet attended the aftercare clinic where the patients’ vision is tested and they are given sterile eye drops. Jim and Violet were overwhelmed by what they saw.
People who had their sight restored coming to the clinic with tiny gifts for the surgeon, a few limes, a bag of peanuts; all they could afford.
Their lives had been transformed; they could now tend their vegetable gardens and be self-sufficient; they could go to the toilet unaccompanied.
The dire shortage of money available to the NEHP was brought into sharp relief when the store of sterile eye drops was exhausted. The frustration of the medics was palpable. They did not have the £12.00 necessary to give eye drops to the remaining patients.
Jim and Violet came away determined to continue to support further Cataract Camps.
Between 2014 and 2018, FoTGA funded a total of 500 cataract operations.
THE FORMATION OF A NEW CHARITY
FoTGA’s primary activity is the sponsorship of children through school; this is, by its very nature, an activity that requires bank accounts, staff and premises in The Gambia and a considerable workload for the volunteers in the UK. On the other hand, the raising and transfer of money to the NEHP in The Gambia can be achieved with many fewer overheads.
In 2019, after handing over responsibility for the FoTGA sponsorship scheme, Violet and Jim decided to set up a new charity to focus on this one aspect of eye care in The Gambia and Cataracts Are Curable – The Gambian Project was formed.
Not an easy task but, on 1st June 2020, the charity was accepted for registration by the Charity Commission.
THE CURRENT SITUATION
The primary focus of the charity is the provision of free eye care to the poorest people of The Gambia. In 2023, it accounted for 96% of all expenditure. 66% was spent on cataract operations and 26% on eye health surveys which include the treatment of non-surgical conditions and 4% on equipment spares.
It is our aim to use the charity’s funds to provide the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people.
The provision of ophthalmic equipment, spare parts and the support of the maintenance programme are necessary extensions to the provision of cataract operations.
The charity would have achieved nothing at all without its donors.
We are always moved by their generosity and would like to thank them, one and all.
We are very aware that, as well as their money, they have given us their trust.
None of them will witness first-hand the effects that their gifts make but they trust us and the NEHP team in The Gambia to do the job with dedication and integrity.
In 2023, the charity derived approximately 54% of its cash income from charitable trusts and businesse; the other 46% was received as small donations from individuals. Further donations were received as donations in kind.
A timeline of our work to December 2023 in more detail may be download as a PDF from here.