Restore Sight, Fight Poverty
In recognition of World Sight Day on Oct. 8, 2009, nonprofit Planeterra Foundation announces a donation drive and a video contest to assist the global issue of avoidable blindness and visual impairment.
The World Health Organization has stated that one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce poverty is to restore sight, and through Planeterra’s efforts, a $50 donation enables a patients to see and change his or her life forever.
Planeterra supports eye camps in remote Tibetan villages. Over the past two years, Planeterra-funded camps have restored the sight of hundreds of Tibetans and provided eye care to hundreds more. The 2009 camp in Chabcha this September resulted in 86 successful sight restoration surgeries.
“Tibet has one of the highest rates of blindness in the world. Most of this blindness is due to cataracts, a disease associated with aging but also prevalent among children and the working class. Many are unable to reach a hospital because of poverty and lack of transportation. With scattered populations spread across great distances, surgical eye camps are the most efficient way to treat the high rate of disease,” said Richard Edwards, Planeterra director.
Generous donors and tour participants make contributions each year to fund annual sight camps in Tibet. On Sept. 26 staff and supporters of Planeterra and its parent company, Gap Adventures, launched “Take a Hike for Planeterra” and raised over $3,000 towards a $10,000 goal for the 2010 eye camp. For more details, please see:
http://www.planeterra.org/pages/world_sight_day/123.php.
To raise awareness of the gender inequity in eye care (many more girls and women go untreated than do men), Planeterra’s partner in sight solutions, Seva Canada, has launched an online video contest, “Her Sight Is Worth It.” Seva Canada is asking young and aspiring filmmakers to create a short video about vision impairment and gender.
Planeterra is sponsoring the grand prize, a new MacBook, $1500 value. The three winning videos will be screened at the World Community Film Festival in eight locations across Canada. The top three winners will also be honored by having sight restored to one girl and one woman in their name. For contest details, see http://www.seva.ca/contest.htm.
Planeterra Foundation is a global non-profit dedicated to sustainable community development through travel. It was founded in 2003 by Gap Adventures, the largest independent adventure travel company in the world. Planeterra evolved out of a long history of travelers committed to finding ways to give back to the people and places they visit. Planeterra selects the projects and works with Gap Adventures to arrange voluntour travel programs worldwide.
For information on Planeterra’s year-round programs, see http://www.planeterra.org/pages/voluntours/4.php or call 416-260-0999.