World Sight Day 2007
World Sight Day is set aside each year to focus global attention on vision and blindness. The theme of this year's event on October 11 is "Vision for Children" draws attention to the hundreds of millions of children who are born blind or become blind in the course of their early childhood. Every minute a child goes blind in the world. There are 40,000 blind children in our country. Two thirds of them have lost their sight because of conditions that could either have been prevented or they have conditions where surgery could restore sight. In developing countries like Bangladesh, blindness carries a big stigma. It deprives them of being an active member of the community; it often excludes them from education, and condemns them to a life of suffering and even early death. Without any intervention, children who are blind face a high risk of fatality. Over half of the children who get blind die within one or two years. Community based rehabilitation for the blind children and awareness rising is badly needed to overcome this crisis. Otherwise they will be left in the dark forever. Rashid (left in the photo), 12, from Noagaon was born blind. He used to sit at home, unable to get around and perform simple tasks such as brushing his teeth. He did not go to the school and felt very lonely. After being identified by a health worker of Child Sight Foundation (CSF), Rashid is now getting home base rehabilitation and pre-schooling orientation. He is able to do his daily chores with much more ease. He has learned Braille for study and can move to school alone. He attends a mainstream school. He finds learning easier as he can rely on his sighted peers to help him if he is unable to read or see something. Rashid believes integrated education is important because it allows students to be closer to their home and friends. "There is no discrimination, we are all friends," he says. Rashid is an ambitious student and wants to be a teacher when he grows up.
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