What would you miss if you were blind? For the 314 million people in the world living with low vision and blindness, simple pleasures like walking unaided or seeing the faces of loved ones are just dreams.

The good news is that 80% of blindness is preventable or treatable, often with a pair of prescription glasses or a 15-minute cataract surgery costing about $50. Seva Canada (www.seva.ca), a Vancouver-based international eye care charity, has been working for almost 30 years to restore sight and prevent blindness in some of the poorest regions of the developing world including Nepal, Tibet, India, Tanzania, Guatemala, Cambodia and Egypt.

Fidelia Silverste Fajardo, Guatemala

But people don’t go blind by the millions. They go blind one personal tragedy at a time. Here are two stories of people who were once blind and who received the gift of sight thanks to Seva’s donors.

In Guatemala, an elderly woman named Fidelia Silverste Fajardo was gradually losing her sight because of cataracts, the clouding of the eye’s natural lens. It was bad enough that she could no longer cook, clean and contribute to her family, but when her cataracts worsened she couldn’t see to walk. One day she fell and broke both her hips and was confined to a wheelchair.

Blind and helpless, Fidelia felt her life was over and she was ashamed of being a terrible burden to her family. The family was sliding deeper into poverty because someone had to stay home from work to care for her.

Then her family heard about the Seva-sponsored eye care program and she had cataract surgery on both eyes. After the second surgery she told the doctors, “I am so happy that I can see again and little by little I am able to walk. I am able to cook and serve my family. I thank you so much and do not know how to thank you. May God bless you for helping me!”

In Nepal, a 14-year-old girl named Ram Kumari Tamang was facing an uncertain future. She is the youngest of five children and her mother passed away when she was only five-years-old. Up to grade three, she was one of the smartest people in her class. But then things started going wrong. She failed grades four, six and eight. Her family thought she must have a low IQ and they resolved to pull her out of school.

(L) Pembi Sherpa. (R) Ram Kumari Tamang (Nepal)

The real problem was that Ram Kumari couldn’t see. Without eye care, her future would fade away along with her vision. After hearing on the radio about a Seva eye camp in her remote mountain region of Nepal, she asked her family to take her there. She was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes. The day after her eye surgeries, her vision had improved from 20/200 to 20/40.

Ram Kumari was delighted. She said that from now on she would be first in her class. She wanted to have her photo taken with Pembi Sherpa, another young girl who also received sight-restoring cataract surgery at the Seva eye camp. The girls became good friends after seeing each other at the eye camp. Both girls can now return to school and have brighter futures.

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Find out how you can give the gift of sight at www.seva.ca