Samo Kieta has travelled for days – at a great cost – to get to Papua New Guinea’s Madang Eye Clinic for cataract surgery.
As a missionary and farmer he hasn’t been either to do either job and it’s why he and his family have made sacrifices for him to be here.
It’s worth it – when the patch comes off, he shakes his head with disbelief and then the smile lights up his face.
Up to 8000 patients a year come through the Madang Eye Clinic – whose work is supported by New Zealand charity The Fred Hollows Foundation.
PNG has the highest rate of blindness in the Pacific – 5.6% of people over the age of 50 are blind.
The country needs 90 eye doctors to deal with the problem, but there’s only 14.
It’s why The Fred Hollows Foundation is working hard to support training and provide funding for equipment and technical support.
But the challenges in Papua New Guinea are immense.
“This is a really large and complex country to work in – its geographically challenging – a lot of the areas of the greatest need are remote and access to populations and access to services is really difficult,” says Fred Hollows CEO Audrey Aumua.
Father Philip Gibs, President of the Divine Word University which partners with Fred Hollows to train eye nurses, knows firsthand how tough it is.
“One of the places I was working, it would be 12 hours walk to the nearest health facility and tough walk over the mountains and so if you are blind its very very difficult.”
Security threats also don’t help. Killings and violence are commonplace and eye teams which go out to remote communities on outreach programmes have to be protected.
But the work goes on and communities which rely on living off the land are grateful as loss of eyesight is a big disadvantage to families.
1News travelled with Setla Gabong, who had just had successful cataract surgery, back to his home village of Bilbil.
The church elder and family patriarch is given a hero’s welcome.
After holding his grandchildren’s faces in his hands and looking into his eyes - his first mission is to read the bible.
Pacific Correspondent Barbara Dreaver travelled to PNG with The Fred Hollow’s Foundation, which celebrates its 30th birthday this year.
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