HOPE FOR THE BLIND According to the World Health Organisation, there are an estimated 45 million blind people and 135 million visually impaired people worldwide.
The global prevalence of childhood blindness is estimated to be around 0.07%, or approximately one tenth of the prevalence of blindness in adults.
According to the World Health Organisation about 1.4 million children are estimated to be blind, 320,000 of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. The global financial cost of childhood blindness (based on the loss of future earning capacity) is estimated to be between US$6 billion and $27 billion. It is estimated that about up to 70% of (worldwide) childhood blindness may be preventable.
Also an estimated 3.1% of deaths worldwide are directly or indirectly due to cataract, glaucoma, trachoma and onchocerciasis. The World Health Organisation says that around 90% of people who are blind live in developing countries. In developed countries, for each decade after the age of 40 there is a threefold increase in the prevalence of blindness and vision loss. In developing countries, it is believed that 60-80% of children who become blind die within 1-2 years.
About 1% of Africans are blind.
About 7.1 of the world's 38 million blind people live in sub-Saharan Africa.
Around 60% of Africa's blind are women.
Around 50% of blindness in sub-Saharan Africa is due to cataract.
An estimated 2.2 million Africans are blind due to trachoma.
There are an estimated 300,000 blind children in Africa.
Africa has 1 ophthalmologist per 1,000,000 the population.
The prevalence of blinding cataract in sub-Saharan Africa is around 0.5%.
Nigeria being the most populous sub-Saharan country (and African country) has its share of blind people with new cases of adults and children loosing their sight.
Unfortunately the lack of statistics prevents an accurate estimation of the number of visually impaired people in the country.
But the estimation on Sub-Saharan Africa gives us a vivid enough picture of the situation.
There are a few charity organisations in Nigeria and the task before them is quite daunting.
I made contact with one of these organisations: ‘Hope For The Blind’ and got to speak to one of the co-ordinators Mr. Andrew Gani-Ikilama.
He obliged us this interview.
Tell us about how the organisation started and the vision.
The organisation was founded in 1976 and it was called “Tape Recording Services for the Blind”.
This was because when this organization first started, its sole aim was to put literature, Christian messages, and education materials into cassette tapes for the use of the blind people.
The initiative was successful and more and more blind people requested for the services. In 1979, the organization expanded it’s services to provide Braille production, guidance and counselling, consultancy, and later on vocational training.
With the expansion, our name was changed to “Hope For The Blind Foundation”.
Where is it located?
Hope For The Blind Foundation has a National headquarter: Hope House, 1 Hope Close, Wusasa, Zaria, Nigeria and 1 branch office at Zerah Eye Centre, Calabar, Nigeria.
34 years is quite a bit. Who founded this organization?
Dr. Bitrus Gani, the Chief Physiotherapist, and the then Head of the Department of Physiotherapy, at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital was the one who initiated the idea of setting up an organization helping and empowering.
There are 3 other co-founders of Hope for the Blind:
Mr. Mallam Luka Hayi, who is also a blind person. He worked with the Zaria Workshop for the Blind before.
Professor Peter Asun, a lecturer of the Ahmadu Bello University
Dr. A. H. Dyson, a Baptist Missionary and education specialist.
Who manages the organization now?
It is managed by a board of trustees. Under the board of trustees there is a board of executives. They are in charge of the daily operations. They hold responsible by the Executive Chairman (who is also one of the Trustees) and Executive Director. There is going to be a change of board of executives this year and we shall announce the new ones soon.
What are the objectives of ‘Hope For The Blind Foundation’?
Hope for the Blind is a non-profit-making charity organization and its objectives are to provide guidance and counselling to the blind and those involved in their welfare, to put on Braille, tape and large educational and recreational materials for them, to provide consultancy services and promote self-help among the blind, to creating public awareness regarding the potentialities of the blind and, to encourage and challenge Nigerians to accept responsibility for the handicapped.
How do you about achieving these objectives?
There are several main programmes and services that we provide to the blind:
First there’s the training and retraining.
We are aiming at a better education future for the blind people and the disabled. We provide training, re-training and literature development programmes, including Braille reading and practical skill training, e.g. basic computer usage.
Then there’s the counselling.
Clients from all walks of life become blind or disabled as a result of a variety of situations. It is not uncommon for the newly disabled to feel frustrated about their lost abilities and feel bleak about their future. We believe that the real disability comes from the mind but not the body. We solace our clients that being disabled is not the end of the world. There are ways to readapt to a new way of living.
We also organise visits.
There is nothing better to warm the hearts of the blind folks than seeing the visit by our Hope’s Team. Understanding that the blind and disabled often helpless in the community, during the visits to them, materials and appliances are distributed free of charge. Our Hope’s Team has virtually visited all the 36 states of Nigeria and Abuja, and we are still reaching out actively in order to help those who are in need.
How successful has it been so far?
Oh! It’s been good considering the obstacles. For example, in the past 2 – 3 years, we have impacted over 1000 blind people and disabled (mostly are blind) by providing training, books, holding conferences.
We have also trained 300 medical doctors and nurses for the rehabilitation of the blind in the past 3 years in different states in Nigeria.
What factors contribute to the success?
We are community-focused. We use lots of partnerships. We use lots of volunteers. There are not so many organizations that serve the blind people. We are the only organization that provides services exclusively to the blind people in the whole of Northern Nigeria and we also receive clients from the Niger Delta Region so it’s quite a job. But we’ve made progress.
Do other organization and governmental agencies team up with you?
Other NGOs are providing more support than the government. The partnerships are mainly in the form of training, fund-raising, and sharing of resources. A few NGOs we partner with are ACCIF, Kaduna, Amaranth Foundation USA, Torch Trust for the Blind UK, Fantsuam Foundation Nigeria, Nigeria Association of the Blind, Beekeeping Society Zaria, Christofel Blinden Mission Nigeria & Germany, T. Y. Danjuma, YWAM Kaduna, Priority Associates Nigeria.
Other than the obvious challenge of number and reach what other challenges do you face?
Funding! It is the major challenge. If I have not got the money, there are many daily operations that we rely on money. For instance, we need to buy generators, diesel, stationery, salary of the staff. We need people to develop the habit of regular donations, no matter the amount. We invite people to give a gift of Five Hundred Naira per month into our bank account.
What is the next project, why?
Our next project is to set up a new rehabilitation centre in North-east Nigeria. It will be set up in Taraba. We are now raising fund for this project and the target is 150m Naira. We look forward to setting it up within a year.
We intend to set up a rehabilitation centre there because in this area, there is a high incidence of river blindness according to the Ministry of Health, Nigeria and we have seen the effect on the life of adults and children. We also don’t want them to be travelling to Zaria as most of them cannot afford it and so most end up being unemployed and begging for a living.
Do you have other plans too?
We are having a special project in December. A blind man, who is from the United States, is going to climb Zuma Rock. We are doing this activity for fund-raising and advocacy. We would like to raise the awareness of the public that blind people can also have great achievement as normal individuals.
That’s great for awareness. What else do you do for awareness?
We have set up a Facebook page last year with an aim to increase our exposure in social media. Just search “Hope For The Blind Foundation”, the first item on the search results will be the page for our organization. Feel free to join us on Facebook and get yourself posted about our latest news.
How can people help?
Simple, if each person gives only Five Hundred Naira each month into our GT Bank account number 811333527110. It would help run things. They could verify the account details and check out the organisation’s data or even visit to see that their token is doing great things.
No fulfilment is bigger than that. With their help we would rehabilitate more people.
REHABILITTATION GIVES THEM HOPE.
By: Naomi Moremi Lucas 26/08/10
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