Sightsavers Poem by Paula Glynn

The important charity Sightsavers
Helping people in poor countries see:
Regain their valuable eyesight
Young children and adults blind
When such a little amount of money
Can change this sorry state of affairs

Medications distributed to patients
And simple operations performed
Giving sight back to the blind:
Unfairly blind when all it takes is a few pounds of money
For every person: doctors and surgeons
Needing Sightsavers funds to make their work possible

This charity being an non-governmental organisation
Working with partners in developing countries
To treat and prevent avoidable blindness
And promote equality for people with visual impairments
And other disabilities that are widespread
Children having special needs treatments

Sightsavers founded in 1950 by Sir John Wilson
First called the British Empire Society for the Blind
Changed to the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind
Its patron is Princess Alexandra
And between 1950 and 2018
Sightsavers had distributed over 1 billion treatments

This prevented potentially debilitating diseases
Supporting 7.3 million sight-restoring cataract operations
Having patients open their eyes with trepidation
Now knowing the wonder and beauty of sight:
Being able to see and absorb all the colours
Of their surroundings and their wonderful world

Sightsavers such an important charity:
Surveys conducted in West Africa in 1953
To learn the extent of the various eye conditions
And 80% of blindness either preventable or curable
And hence a major lifeline to West Africa was created
Billions of people saved from a life of darkness

Nowadays Sightsavers still a respectable charity
Funds from the public still going strong
No money wasted on fancy packaging
Sightsavers using all the funds they can
For everyone should understand
This is a world no one should suffer blindness in.