Elevating the status of women in many parts of Southeast Asia would benefit women and their families. There are many areas where empowering women would uplift society.

One way to elevate women’s status and self-esteem is to train them to work in eye clinics and assist with surgery.

The women from India in these photos are all women I worked with intermittently for several years. The two in the top photo in the white saris are “on the job” trained surgical nurses for operating days and, on other days, office-based vision screeners for the clinics and the mobile eye camps.

This picture was taken in a primary school classroom, where we were holding a one-day cataract screening clinic. That morning, the first 100 patients with cataract blindness were to be taken by bus to the nearby larger village for surgery.

Raj Shree, on the left, got married the next year after I took the photo. On my next visit, I visited her comfortable home with her new baby. I am confident that, due to her skills and income, she was able to have her parents arrange a more favorable marriage.

The above photo shows an “on the job” trained attendant taking vital signs for post-cataract surgery patients. Often, the patients would sleep on the floor after surgery, and “bed calls” were the easiest to accomplish. She spoke Maharhastran and the local dialect. She loved the training and feeling needed.

Support Dr. Gary Barth’s philanthropic efforts and restore sight to people in need. Learn more here. https://www.bbheye.org/