For a while, Israel was forced out of school and would spend days crying at home. That had become his reality until he was brought to the center…

Israel is a 7-year-old boy who suffered trauma in the right eye caused by an object that damaged the retina. His parents brought him to the nearest hospital after he got the accident while playing with his peers. At the hospital, he was prescribed some medicine but the eye was not getting better. When exposed to light, opening it was impossible and would cause him excruciating pain. Israel was obliged to stop school for a while and would spend days crying at home.

His mother, a farmer relying on a small plot of land, had to give up her daily activities so that she could stay with him and care for him. His parents did not have sufficient means to go to see an ophthalmologist. Life was becoming difficult for the whole family. Fortunately, a friend of the family told them about Clinique de l’oeil, a hospital specialized in treating eyesight problems in Burundi.

When they finally made it to the eye clinic, Israel was referred to CTSOE, a  center whose mission is to fight against Children blindness in Burundi, for surgery. Now that Israel has recovered his sight, his mother cannot hide her joy, “He will be able to go back to school and play with other children”, she says ecstatically.