Today is World Sight Day!
Around the world, people are sharing their stories of eye health and pledging to #LoveYourEyes.
Meet Penina
Penina is 69. She farms rice near the village of Majita in northern Tanzania, and she lives with her daughter and grandchildren. When cataracts began stealing her sight, she could no longer work her fields. She could no longer take her turn reading when her family studied the Bible together.
Then a neighbour who had cataract surgery told her: “I was blind. Now I can see. The eye care team at Mara Regional Referral Hospital helped me get my vision back.”
That was enough. Penina boarded a minibus, then hired a motorbike for the final stretch, and travelled close to two hours to the hospital in Musoma. She came alone. Her husband’s words had sent her off: “Go ahead and try.”
Because of donors like you, she was booked for surgery at a Seva Canada-supported eye camp, and she accepted.
Before her surgery, Penina could not see what she looked like. The day after, she could.
“I’m so happy I can see better!” she said. “I can see the gap in my teeth and it is so good!”
Then she asked us to pass something along: “Please tell the Seva Canada donors that I’m very happy and thankful to all of them who have helped not only me but so many people here with vision problems.”
This World Sight Day, Seva Canada is asking donors to help fund a Cataract Surgical and Treatment Camp in Tarime district, in the same region where Penina was treated.
The team expects to see 60 to 70 people with cataracts. For several years the region had no full-time eye surgeon, and people in districts far from Musoma have been waiting for care. But thanks to donor support, the hospital now has two trained ophthalmologists to treat the community.
Our Vision is a world in which no one is needlessly blind or visually impaired.
We focus on sight because it’s solvable: 90% of vision loss can be prevented or treated.
Since 1982, Seva Canada have given the power of sight to more than 5 million people through life-changing surgeries and provided eye care services to millions more.
Charity Intelligence named Seva Canada one of the Top 100 Highest Rated Charities in 2025, for the eighth consecutive year.
We have seen first-hand the enormous impact that Seva Canada’s efforts have made. Giving the gift of sight provides such a benefit not just to the individuals, but to the families and the entire communities. Lives are changed.
Gloria and Hugh Sutcliffe
Donors Since 2008
