Sri Sai Lions Netralaya

SANKARA EYE FOUNDATION, USA

Founded in 1998 by Mr. K. Muralidharan, Mr. K. Sridharan, and Mr. Khushnood Ahmad is striving hard to eradicate curable blindness in India.

The goal of SEF, USA is to work towards eradicating curable blindness in India and enabling SEF India and other partners to scale their operations to accomplish this goal.

SEF, USA continuously excels and has won the highest rating of 4 stars from Charity Navigator, multiple years in a row.

SEF’s mission is to reach out to the rural poor and provide quality eye care free of cost to the needy by building operationally self-sufficient super specialty eye care hospitals across India.

To date, SEF, India has performed over 1.75 million free eye surgeries for the needy.

SEF, India offers total specialty eye care services including Preventative, Curative and Rehabilitative.

SEF, India has a total 13 hospitals all over India.

SEF, USA has sponsored 30000 free cataract surgeries of indigent patients performed by SSLN during the last 3 years.

Sl. No.	Financial Year	Surgeries Sponsored
1	2017-18	5000
2	2018-19	10000
3	2019-20	15000

Sankara Eye Foundation, USA is a major partner of SSLN in its pursued of curable blindness free Bihar. We are very thankful to SEF, USA which supports us to grow and achieve our mission of Vision For All with self-sustainability.

The humanitarian impact of our partnership may be felt in the “Voice of Vision “expressed by the beneficiaries.

Voice Of Vision

"Are you blind?"

Take a step back and recall how many times do we actually use this phrase in our daily conversations; we do not even pay attention, but Kamala Devl, a-77- year old cataract patient gets teary-eyed when reminded of the taunts. Cataract was clouding her vision for the past 2 year, she struggled even for a glass of water. Every day was challenging as her vision turned from blur to black. Somehow, she was doing her every day chores. it became nearly impossible to see things. And amidst of all this we know that blindness is not an easy thing to define, it alters your life, she says. She was found by the Outreach team of SSLN in the village Saksohara in Free Eye Screening Camp sponsored by Sankara Eye Foundation, USA. She was brought to the base hospital and got operated. I'll be able to see my family again, there was hope in that voice. She was fortunate to get her vision back, but not everyone is as fortunate as her. More than 70 lakh Elderly In Bihar are waiting for their day of light.

Let's be that beacon of hope for them and change their lives.

Moulding the Potters life

With glory in his eyes, he had seen all of his pots and Diya's take the perfect shape when he spinned his chak tirelessly. We are talking about Ramji Pandit a 70-year-old potter, an artist, who had been doing pottery for earning livelihood during his entire life with pride. Imagine his plight when 2-3 years back he lost his eyesight, daily chores got impossible let alone his work. With one son separated and the other unemployed, he single handedly took care of his entire family. Financial crunch of money was a reason for constant bickering in the family. When Ramji Pandit's elder son decided to live separately and withdraw support he was fighting two battles, with his family and his old age.

It was almost a lost battle when his hope was revived and he got acquainted with the outreach team of SSLN. Sri Sai Lions Netralaya with the support of Sankara Eye Foundation, USA remoulded his life and the smile line on his face reflected happiness and zeal to live life again. We all heartily thank SANKARA EYE FOUNDATION, USA for helping and holding hands of these people and giving a happy ending to their story.

Voice Of Vision

A simple cataract surgery bring back colors of life .....

His eyes became wet when he narrated his ordeal to us. Bharat Thakur is the sole bread earner of his family. Even at the age of 65, he worked as a barber to earn livelihood for his small family consisting of his old wife.
But ever since he lost his eyes due to Cataract, he not only lost his Vision but also his only source of Income. He was in tears when he said how painful it was to work with his fading vision. And with his losing vision, he lost his clients too.
He heard about Sri Sai Lions Netralaya from our Outreach Program staffs who were conducting an eye check up camp at his village. With some hesitation, he visited the camp but then rest still seems like a dream to him.
He was brought to base hospital by patient's transportation vehicle and after the surgery and little rest; he finally was able to see the light again. The first person he saw was his grandson, whom he hugged hard as if he had not seen him for ages.
His eyes which earlier spoke of a thousand stories of the struggle with blindness is now beaming with pride as he looks long waiting queue.

He heartily thanked Sankara Eye Foundation, USA for their support in giving his life and dignity back. With restoration of Bharat's vision, there is one less from over 70 Lakhs Needy People in Bihar who are waiting for their chance to see the world again.

This is among many such stories of Change that donations from Sankara Eye Foundation, USA makes possible.