Seva News
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“Seva has given so much help to so many thousands of people for so many years — such a wonderful example of love in action.”

Bonnie Raitt
Singer / Songwriter

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"Seva has made an extraordinary contribution to the world — not only through their international programs, but here in some of the most impoverished communities in North America, on Native American reservations. Thank you Seva."

Jackson Browne
Singer / Songwriter

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"Seva takes the impulse towards generosity and turns it into compassionate action that helps people in real need. I honor my friends and relations by giving to Seva in their name — the entire world benefits. I hope you'll join me."

Peter Coyote
Actor / Writer

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"Compassion and caring for people in need - that's simply a moral necessity. But it's not always easy to do. Seva makes it easy. They know how to put your donations to work in ways that truly benefit people."

Joan Baez
Singer / Humanitarian Activist

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"When we met the folks at Seva, we knew we were among kindred spirits, joining to bring people together in service to others. Whether preventing blindness in Nepal, assisting native peoples in Guatemala and Mexico, or helping our own Native Americans, Seva has been there to help alleviate suffering and improve people's lives. Long may they rock!"

Phil Lesh
The Grateful Dead

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"Seva's efforts create hope and happiness worldwide for so many people in difficult conditions. I've always been amazed and cheered by their good works and I've been very happy to help them in their fundraising efforts."

Bruce Hornsby
Singer / Songwriter

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“I admire Seva's spirit of innovation. Seva is constantly looking for new ideas that can benefit the world, especially the poor, and they aren't afraid to try something that no one has ever tried before."

Dr. Muhammad Yunus
Nobel Prize Winner / Seva Partner / Founding Chairman of Grameen Health Services

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“I congratulate Seva Foundation for the magnificent work they continue to do."

Odetta
Legendary Folk Singer

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“Seva has done an incredible job all over the world helping people who really need it. I am proud to be one of the many who followed Wavy and his friends down this particular yellow brick road.”

David Crosby
Singer / Songwriter

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“Such dedication to others — how could you not love Seva and what they accomplish? Well done!”

Graham Nash
Singer / Songwriter

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Ama's Story
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Two out of three people who are blind are women and girls. Your compassion restored Ama's eyesight, and is helping to increase access to eye care for women around the globe.

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A Seva Story
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This micro-documentary explains the origins of Seva and our work to prevent and cure blindness around the world.

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Let There Be Sight
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Witness a Seva Eye Camp in the Himalayas of Nepal. In Let There Be Sight, Seva donor Turk Pipkin chronicles his journey with a Seva medical team to a remote surgical eye camp in Nepal's Himalayas where hundreds of people had their vision restored. Special thanks to musician and long-time Seva supporter Jackson Browne for use of his song "Doctor My Eyes."

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What Does Seva Mean...
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We asked Dr. Chundak Tenzing, Seva's Sight Program Director: "What does 'Seva' Mean to you?

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Sight in Cambodia
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Many Cambodia children do not have access to eye care services. Seva trains Cambodian doctors and provides infrastructure so that Cambodia can provide care to it's own citizens. Last year, over 70,000 children in Cambodia received eye examinations as a result of Seva's work. 1/2 of children who go blind in developing countries will die within the first year. By preventing and treating blindness, Seva provides opportunities for life to children around the world.

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For a Chance to See
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Dhana lives in one of the most isolated, impoverished villages on the planet, Bajura, Nepal, a stunning but unforgiving landscape he has not seen for five years. Dhana Kadka is blind due to cataracts. Despite this, he walked 10km through the rocky terrain of far west Nepal by feel and memory. Kadka learned that a group of Seva-supported eye doctors were coming for a special visit. So he made the perilous journey on foot for the chance to see.

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Dr. Nicole Grasset Retrospective 
July 1927 - August 2009

Nicole was an exceptional woman. As friends and colleagues received word of her passing and sent messages of condolence to her family, the impact of Nicole’s work and life became more and more apparent.

She was born in South Africa and spent the first 20 years of her life there with her sister Ariette and their parents. The family moved to Switzerland after WWII where Nicole did her medical studies and joined the Swiss Federation of Medical Doctors as a dermatologist. But clinical medicine didn’t satisfy her. She left to study at the London School of Tropical Medicine and began to do research on influenza and rabies at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Nicole adored Paris, and the freedom it gave her to do as she pleased! She was invited to attend a Conference in Teheran and made the journey overland, alone in her VW with her two dogs.

  Later, she witnessed the student and worker uprising in Paris, May 1968, and left a vivid account about her experiences. She took no part of the revolt, but was a bystander looking at the events with a curious and open mind.

She went to work for the International Red Cross in Biafra where she found herself under bombardment and described the hardship and famine there. The job that most affected her life was heading the ambitious World Health Organization smallpox eradication campaign in South-east Asia. She spent several years in India working 7 days a week organising the programme and seeking funds, and going into small villages to discover where the epidemic was resurging. Vaccination did the rest. For her outstanding work Nicole became an international figure. Perseverance, stamina and devotion to accomplish this unprecedented task won her recognition and esteem from her colleagues. Her personal ties with the team remain strong until today.

After smallpox was eradicated in the world, Nicole, along with SEVA colleagues and WHO consultants, carried out the Nepal Blindness Survey which was a scientifically sound survey on blindness and visual impairment. The result of the Survey was the forerunner of the development of the WHO Nepal Blindness Programme, of which she was the first WHO Programme Manager. This programme is hailed as one of the most successful and sustainable globally. It antedated the VISION 2020 Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness by almost 20 years, and provided a partnership model which is widely in place today.

Nicole had a particular passion for reaching children. Within the Nepal programme she designed a surveillance system for early detection of children suffering from vitamin A deficiency and other life and sight threatening conditions.

The focal point of Nicole’s whole life was helping others, in any and every way possible; leading ambitious programmes with an iron will, or helping a blind person from Nepal to attend school for the sight impaired, and as the son of an Afghan colleague still remembers, 20 years later, she helped him get a scholarship to university. For Nicole, nothing seemed impossible. Her optimism, sense of humour and joy of life will be missed by all who knew her.

Written by Nedd and Poppy Willard & R. Pararajasegaram

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