NBC Shares Story of South Sudan Outreach

HCP Cureblindness thanks HCP Volunteer Ophthalmologist Lloyd Williams (Duke University) and photographer Chris Hildreth (Rooster Media) for helping us share our story with a national audience recently on NBC News. This opportunity allowed us to tell more people about our life-changing work.

Having restored sight to more than 1.4 million people, HCP and partners say they never tire of the moment bandages are removed from a patient’s eyes. “When I first saw it happen I thought, I can do this for the rest of my life and never feel like I wasted a minute,” explains Dr. Williams to NBC’s Kate Snow. During his recent trip to Akon and Aweil, Williams alongside two local surgeons, removed bandages from 1,800 people. The outreaches were done in partnership with the Catholic Diocese of Wau, as well as state and national government.

Three of which were siblings, each blind for a majority of their childhood. The youngest lost his sight as an infant and had never seen his mom. The bandages removed, the kids stood still, disoriented, not truly understanding what was happening. It was only the sound of his mother’s voice when a look of recognition crossed the youngest boy’s face and he walked straight to her open arms.

HCP began working in South Sudan in December 2011. Since then, HCP with partners have hosted 19 surgical outreaches providing more than 9,800 sight-restoring surgeries to treat both cataracts and trachomatous trichiasis (TT).

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, years of conflict have resulted in South Sudan’s 11 million people having little to no access to eye care. South Sudan suffers from one of the highest rates of blindness in the world.

At the writing of this story, more than 850,000 people have viewed the South Sudan story online. This doesn’t include those that watched the story live when it aired. Viewers’ reactions have been overwhelmingly positive praising Dr. Williams and the team for their selfless work.

HCP couldn’t agree more. Dedicated volunteers and partners allow for HCP’s mission to eradicate avoidable blindness to become a reality.

Together, with partners, we’re changing the arc of global blindness: one outreach, one training, one prevention program, one piece of equipment at a time.

“You cure the blindness in the individual, you improve the economic situation of the family, you put one of their children back in school,” Williams continues. HCP likes to say that restoring the sight of one person, changes the lives of two.

If you missed the NBC story, click here to watch it. Be prepared to be moved.

Follow HCP Cureblindness on Facebook and Instagram as we continue to share Chris Hildreth’s amazing photos in the coming weeks. If a picture speaks a thousand words, these shout out to pay attention to the need that exists in South Sudan.

All photos courtesy of Chris Hildreth at Rooster Media.