Mrs. Evodia Njah (Volunteer for Sightsavers)

Mrs. Evodia Njah

( Volunteer For Sightsavers)

Mrs. Evodia Njah is a volunteer from Cameroon who works with Sightsavers in the village of Kesu and has made treating elephantiasis and river blindness her mission. These common diseases which are caused by parasitic worms have crippling effects.

She gains the trust of people by going door-to-door twice a day, before treating them. She hands out posters and gives talks at the local market, and in church to create awareness. She also conducts a yearly census to identify those at risk. Mrs. Njah, a widow and mother of five children in addition to trying to save her community also heads a local young women group. As a volunteer for Sightsavers, she is known as a Community Directed Distributor (CDD) and was trained for the position.

“In training, I learned how to give the right dosage of drugs and how to fill in the register. I distribute every day for two weeks, to 20 households in my village. If people are not in, I go to other households, then I keep going back until I find them. I also do population census. I am now doing integrated distribution, for elephantiasis as well as river blindness — but it is not difficult to do two at once. ” she said.

It helps that there are nine other volunteers, who are known as community directed distributors, in her village. “We hold planned meetings twice a week during distributions to share experiences and help each other,” Mrs. Njah shared. “I became a CDD, as I want to help my community.’’

No contribution is too small. Your best efforts can go a long way in transforming a community.

Sightsavers is an International Charity which works in more than 30 countries worldwide to prevent avoidable blindness and fight for the rights of people with disabilities. They have been changing lives and restoring sight worldwide since 1950. Their first programmes in the 1950s started in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Nigeria, with several other African countries following in the next two decades. In the 1960s and 70s they also expanded into Asia with their first projects in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and continued to extend their work across Africa. 

Their work in Sri Lanka came to an end in 2016, marking an exciting milestone: it’s the first time they’ve been able to finish their work in a country, satisfied that the eye care services they’ve set up can continue without them.

They now work in 34 countries, and have project offices in 25. They started work in Yemen in 2018, distributing treatments for neglected tropical diseases.

In 2021, Sightsavers carried out more than six million eye examinations across the countries where they work, and distributed more than 172 million treatments to prevent and treat debilitating diseases. Their vision is of a world where no one is blind from avoidable causes, and where people with disabilities can participate equally in society.

(Picture and Information from humanitarianaffairs.org , sightsavers.org )