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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"For nearly 40 years 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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A Day in the Life of a Seva Outreach Worker

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Meet Mr. Leng Pisith.

Leng is a community eye health outreach worker based out of the Seva field office in Battambang, Cambodia. Each week Leng packs up his set of basic optometry tools and travels to remote communities throughout his assigned region of Cambodia along the border of Thailand.

The area he travels is rural and undeveloped with particularly high poverty rates. Signs along the roads warn of the presence of landmines that still riddle the fi elds. Farmers missing a leg or arm are a sad and all-too-common sight.

To reach isolated villages Leng travels on his Seva provided motorbike, riding for hours until the pavement ends — this is when his journey really begins.

Dirt roads quickly turn to muddy, washed out paths. Passing villages of thatch roof huts, Leng often finds himself in areas where there are no hospitals and no clinics.

Families in these villages live in poverty, or even extreme poverty (surviving on less than $1 per day) and struggle to grow enough food to sustain themselves.

As Leng rolls into the first village, he explains "I cover as much as 120 miles each day. When I arrive in a village I first meet with the community leadership and elders and plan for a group eye screening." With their blessing, he gains the trust of those who live in the surrounding area. Leng goes on to note "I'll work in the remote community for 5 days and screen approximately 40 people per day."

After locating a central place, he unpacks his eye exam tools and prepares for the first day of screenings. The eye chart Leng has brought looks a bit different as it does not have a variety of letters as we are used to, but rather has been designed so that he can provide eye exams where more than one in four who come to have their eyes checked are illiterate.

outreachworker_eNews0913v2.jpgAs word spreads throughout the village, community members line up to have their vision checked. Many are elderly and arrive led by a grandchild. These elders often are unable to even see the eye charts, suffering from mature cataracts that have clouded their vision leaving them to struggle with blindness. It is a common story for Leng to hear that the child who led them is not in school. With their parents busy in the fields tending to the crops, the child is left home to care for their grandparent who would be otherwise helpless at home alone.

Other patients who arrive suffer from eye injuries, infections, and other potentially blinding and often painful conditions.

Leng carefully evaluates each person who comes to have their eyes checked. He explains that donors to Seva will provide them with whatever it is they need so that they will be able to see clearly again.

For children, this may mean simply providing a pair of prescription glasses, allowing them to see the blackboard, to stay in school, and hopefully allowing them a chance at a better future.

For the elders and those who have conditions that require corrective surgery, Leng arranges free transportation to the Seva funded eye clinic in Battambang.

Here, thanks to Seva's generous donors, these patients receive world-class eye care. For the many with cataracts, a 15-minute surgery with a man-made lens implant restores their sight, providing a new lease on life.

These services, even just the cost of travel to see a doctor, would have been prohibitive to these rural villagers.

World Health Organization figures estimate that around the globe 80% of blindness can be prevented or cured.

Leng notes that "The best part of my job is seeing the success rate of the eye care and teaching people about the services." He goes on to explain "when I can show them someone who has already had a successful treatment, they are not so afraid of the eye care."

"One patient I identified could not see anything at all, not even the faces of his grandchildren. Thanks to Seva he was able to receive surgery. I was there when he fi rst saw his grandchildren, and he also recognized me. He called out to thank me for bringing him to the clinic."

Thanks to outreach workers like Leng and Seva donors like you, we have restored eyesight to nearly 3.5 million people around the globe.

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