Vision Restored: Salsawi's journey to healthy eyesight

Salsawi is the third child of his parents and will be turning 9 years old soon. His parents started to notice something was not right with his eyes around his second birthday.

Salsawi had a condition known as strabismus, which causes the eyes to look in different directions when focusing. As it did for Salsawi, strabismus typically occurs in early childhood and, if not treated early on in life, it can have a permanent effect on a child’s vision – and even lead to blindness.

Salsawi's parents immediately took him to a private clinic, where they were told to get him an eye patch to help with his eye alignment. His father went to Hawassa University Referral Hospital in an attempt to find the prescribed eyepatch, but instead, he found something he couldn't have imagined.

One day after Salsawi went in for surgery his parents were notified of the successful treatment.

The program that treated Salsawi was led by Dr. Daniel E. Neely, who is a volunteer faculty member with Orbis International and teaches physicians in developing countries around the world. He was accompanied by Dr. Andrew Choyce, who contributed to the training by delivering anesthesia programming.

Salsawi's parents expressed gratitude to Orbis, urging them to continue providing the much-needed support, stating, "we are grateful for the opportunity we have received. He is doing so much better, (and) the way they talk to us and treat the children was stunning."

Thanks to supporters like you, we can deliver sight-saving care to children like Salsawi and provide important training to local eye care teams. Make a generous donation today and help save sight in the year ahead.

With many people in Ethiopia in need of sight-saving care, you can help advance our important work.

Please, consider making a special contribution today to support Orbis programs that help children like Salsawi. You’ll support our partnerships with local hospitals and ensure that we can continue to deliver the gift of sight to communities in southern Ethiopia!