TV Doctor makes eye-opening charity visit to India
- Thursday, 18 October 2012
Actress Sunetra Sarker, recognisable to most as Doctor Zoe Hanna from BBC’s Casualty, recently travelled to India to witness the life-changing work of development organisation Sightsavers.
During her emotional visit to Kolkata’s slums the actress helped at an eye screening clinic and also met 45-year-old Kaniz, who lives in a tiny one-room home. Kaniz was almost blind after suffering with cataracts for over four years. But with seven children to feed she simply couldn’t afford medical treatment and, unable to work, she was relying on her children to care for her.
One day a Sightsavers-supported community health worker visited Kaniz and persuaded her to have cataract surgery. Within two months of surgery her vision returned. Now she is supporting her family again as a needle-worker. For just £28 Sightsavers can provide sight-restoring cataract surgery, changing the lives of women like Kaniz who are living in a cycle of poverty.
Sunetra, whose name means ‘good eyes’, described meeting Kaniz: “In this unnoticed part of the city, a woman’s life has been changed because some-one found her and showed her where to go for help. Kaniz can now look at her life with joy because she hasn’t lost her sight.”
To find out more about Sightsavers and Sunetra’s emotional visit www.sightsavers.org To make a donation please call 0800 089 20 20.
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