Yusuf Mussa
“I need to thank God (salam alaikum) and I want to thank you for giving me my sight back, I give my smiles for you!”
Meet Yusuf Mussa, a 67 year-old man who received sight-restoring surgery at a recent Himalayan Cataract Project supported outreach event at Bisidimo Hospital in Harar, Ethiopia. Yusuf had been losing his sight over the course of 14 years and lost it completely three years ago. His blindness was debilitating.
“I have had failing sight for 14 years, slowly becoming worse and then it completely disappeared 3 years ago. I have had some struggles in this life because of my blindness. One day, a snake was coming towards me (makes snake sound), but I couldn’t see it. Birds were making sounds, so I understood something was coming, but I couldn't see the snake.
My blindness also gave me struggles to keep my goats, when I could still see a little bit, I had vultures and hyenas stealing my goats. I wasn’t able to catch and find runaway goats or run off vultures.”
When asked what he was most looking forward to now that his sight is restored, Yusuf said:
“My house, my goats, my wife and my children. I haven’t seen them for more than 2 years and I am very interested to see what they look like now. This changes everything, now I can see everything. I’m very happy. I need to thank God (salam alaikum) and I want to thank you [HCP] for giving me my sight back, I give my smiles for you!”
Photography by Jon Spangsvig
