Saving Eyesight ― Adventures of Seva Around the World

Being able to see is central to learning, socialization and earning a living. In many developing and impoverished countries throughout the world, blindness is prevalent because there is no access to health and eye care. Simple, easily resolved eye problems are left undiagnosed and untreated causing untold suffering and costing the world billions annually. Five conditions (cataract, refractive errors/low vision, trachoma, onchocerciasis, and vitamin A deficiency/other causes) are responsible for 75 percent of all blindness. For each of these, effective and cost-efficient intervention strategies are available. Two hundred million people could see tomorrow if they had access to eye care. A $50 cataract surgery taking 15 minutes will restore sight. A pair of prescription glasses will bring the world into focus.

In this lively travelogue chronicling the efforts of Seva, an international development agency, readers will learn about how the eye works and how eye problems are corrected. Illustrations reveal how the eyes work to transmit images to the brain. Readers will be touched by the true stories of those who have discovered sight after living in blindness.

Seva Canada is a Vancouver-based charitable organization whose mission is to restore sight and prevent blindness in the developing world. Seva works in 13 of the world's poorest places: Nepal, Tibet/China, India, Africa (Malawi, Madagascar, Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Tanzania), Guatemala, Cambodia and Egypt. Since 1982, Seva Canada has helped more that 3.5 million people see again.

Proceeds of the sale of Saving Eyesight will be donated to Seva Canada.

Linda Pruessen is an editor and writer. She has worked on numerous projects during her twenty years in publishing, includingHow to Raise Monarch Butterflies and Saving Turtles. She lives in the Toronto area with her husband and two children.