Sightsavers brings hope to thousands

Published on Sunday 25 November 2007 00:26

SHE waits patiently outside a government health centre for her brother to be screened for eye disease.

Like thousands of children in Tanzania, she and her family are at risk of developing trachoma, a distressing and painful eye condition, caused by a tiny bacteria spread by flies and a lack of basic sanitation.

Yet health services in the former British colony in East Africa are short of funds to pay for the 50p tube of ointment that will successfully treat it, or the 5 operation required if the disease progresses to the stage where blindness is the inevitable outcome.

In some remote Tanzanian villages located on dry, dusty plains hundreds of miles inland, up to 50% of the children and adults who care for them suffer from trachoma. It deprives already hard-pressed communities - where families have to live on an income of less than 50p per day - of the workers it needs to ensure their survival.

Scotland on Sunday today launches its Christmas fund-raising appeal for Sightsavers International, the charity that aims to prevent blindness in developing countries around the world.

During the past three years, readers have raised more than 80,000 for the charity, which has established a Scottish fund-raising office, for eye-care projects in Pakistan and Sierra Leone in West Africa. This year, the appeal focuses on Tanzania and the range of eye diseases, including trachoma, that its population faces. Just 50p can make a difference.

Today, we launch the appeal in Spectrum magazine. Next week, we will be announcing a 'Bring a 50p to Work Day', in which we hope companies large and small throughout Scotland will participate. Finally, on December 9 we will be launching our online auction, in which readers will be invited to bid for a wide range of exciting lots.

A video diary of Jeremy Watson and photographer Robert Perry's visit to Tanzania can be seen at