Have you ever put on a blindfold and pretended that you couldn’t see? Lots of people have done just that. They have found ways to learn, play, and work, even though they have trouble seeing or can’t see at all.

Daniel Wagaba is 12 years of age and currently, he’s in primary 4. In a conversation with him he is thankful of what God does for him mostly the gift of life and to bring in people like Tony Ssemwogerere (Founder of Charity Raising Organisation) who always bring in support towards his well being and motivating him, showing him the purpose of living, the only thing he would like to ask his mother is that why did she leave him lonely and disillusioned because he never chose to be blind.

Dan is a blind kid ever supporting his friends and advising them to be thankful to God and to the people who usually come to help them and to keep the staffs that usually assist them. When asked, Dan said if God is to offer him one thing of his choice he said he would want to see the universe atleast one time and to see his mother who left him because of his status and to see his father who tried to be there for him though he wouldn’t take good care of him but he tried and to ask God to bless people like Tony and his father and his teachers who have been there for him in so many incidents.

What Causes Blindness?

Vision problems can develop before a baby is born. Sometimes, parts of the eyes don’t form the way they should. A kid’s eyes might look fine, but the brain has trouble processing the information they send. The optic nerve sends pictures to the brain, so if the nerve doesn’t form correctly, the baby’s brain won’t receive the messages needed for sight.

Blindness can be genetic (or inherited), which means that this problem gets passed down to a kid from parents through genes.

Blindness also can be caused by an accident, if something hurts the eye. That’s why it’s so important to protect your eyes when you play certain sports, such as hockey.

Some illnesses, such as diabetes, can damage a person’s vision over time. Other eye diseases, such as cataracts (say: KAH-tuh-rakts), can cause vision problems or blindness, but they usually affect older people.

What Does the Doctor Do?

A kid who has serious trouble with vision might see an ophthalmologist (say: af-thal-MAH-luh-jist), a doctor who specializes in eye problems. Even babies might see an ophthalmologist if their parents think they might be having trouble seeing.

At the doctor visit, the doctor will talk with the parents and the kid (if the kid is old enough to describe what’s going on). A doctor might use an eye chart to find out how well the kid can see. You’ve probably seen these charts that contain letters of different sizes. It’s a way of testing how well a person can see. Someone with really good vision would be able to read certain letters from 20 feet (6 meters) away.

Eyesight this good is called 20/20 vision, although some people can see even better than that. The numbers change depending on how clearly a person can see. The larger or closer something needs to be in order for it to be seen, the worse a person’s vision is.

Many times, glasses or contact lenses are all that’s needed to help kids see better. But if glasses and contact lenses can’t make someone’s vision any better — and the person needs to get really close to something to see it — he or she may be considered blind. For instance, someone with good vision might be able to see an object from 200 feet (61 meters) away, but someone is considered blind if he or she needs to be 20 feet (6 meters) away to see the same object.

Babies and little kids won’t be able to use the eye chart, but doctors can check their vision by doing special vision tests or something as simple as putting a toy in front of the child to see if he or she can focus on it.

The ophthalmologist also will examine the kid’s eyes using special medication and lighting that allows him or her to see into the eyeballs. The ophthalmologist will look at each part of the eye to check for problems, such as a cataract (cloudiness of the eye’s lens). Once the doctor knows what’s causing the vision problem, he or she can begin planning how to treat it.

In some cases, an operation can help improve a kid’s vision. For example, if a kid has a cataract, doctors may do surgery to remove it.

For Any Kind of Support

We are so grateful to people who always take the initiative to uphold these homeless kids, who always bring back hope in their lives and putting a smile on their faces. For any kind of donations visit the organization’s official website [https://charityraisingug.org/] and donate something however little it maybe, it can save many lives out there.