‘I Can See, Mommy’: Witness The Moment Two Blind Sisters See The World For First Time
Sonia and Anita, two sisters living in rural India, were both born blind. A simple surgery, costing about $300, could have restored their sight long ago; but their parents, who earn 17 cents an hour planting and harvesting rice by hand, could barely make ends meet.
Though the odds seemed stacked against them, the girls got a happy ending anyway.
Thanks to the efforts of 20/20/20, a nonprofit working to restore vision to blind children and adults in some of the world’s poorest countries, Sonia and Anita were able to undergo that simple surgery on their eyes. When the bandages came off, they saw the world around them for the very first time, and it was captured in a video detailing the sisters’ story.
Sonia, 12, is said to have gasped as she opened her eyes and blinked into the sunlight for the first time. Her 6-year-old sister, holding her mother close, reportedly declared, “I can see, Mommy.”
According to 20/20/20, the 15-minute “miracle” surgery, which the sisters both underwent, involves a surgeon removing the defective lens that causes blindness and replacing it with an artificial lens. The procedure could restore the eyesight of half the blind children and adults in the world, the nonprofit says.
“The only problem is, for the poorest people in the world, who live on $1 a day, they could never afford to pay for a $300 surgery. So they will remain blind for the rest of their lives –- unless someone helps them,” 20/20/20 writes on its website.
“It is an amazing experience to watch a child or adult who was blind open their eyes and see. Some gasp, some cry, some scream with joy. Some are too stunned to do anything except look around them and take it all in,” the company also says on its website.
Sonia and Anita are reportedly both doing well since their life-changing procedures. 20/20/20 says that the older sister is now going to school and has made friends.
Blue Chalk traveled to India and documented the story of two sisters, both born blind, and followed them through the emotional process of receiving their surgeries and seeing for the first time. Working with a top-tier creative team including photographer Brent Stirton, cinematographer Robert Wilson, editor Greg Snider, music composer Tyler Strickland and executive producer Rob Finch, Blue Chalk created a short-form video in several different formats to support its fundraising efforts as well as a library of high-quality still images that WonderWork can use in printed direct mail pieces.
“First Sight: Sonia & Anita,” as featured in “Two Blind Sisters See for the First Time,” will support 20/20/20, a WonderWork charity that aims to bring 20/20 vision to the 20 million in need. (20x20x20.org)
As I sit and wonder about today, I look back. I can see all that I have …. my life, a home, my family, my health, my education, my profession, had good job and now a good pension, my community, food, a future to look forward to and so much more!
Sure there are bumps, stepping stones and setbacks. Sometimes it feels that it will never end. You see the storm coming and you live through it.
I can see, I can hear, I can feel!
“Gratitude, thankfulness, gratefulness, or appreciation is a feeling or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive. The experience of gratitude has historically been a focus of several world religions, and has been considered extensively by moral philosophers such as Adam Smith.
The systematic study of gratitude within psychology only began around the year 2000, possibly because psychology has traditionally been focused more on understanding distress rather than understanding positive emotions. The study of gratitude within psychology has focused on the understanding of the short term experience of the emotion of gratitude (state gratitude), individual differences in how frequently people feel gratitude (trait gratitude), and the relationship between these two aspects.”
I have used the following video a few times. I don’t get tired of it. I think the message it conveys is so precise and comforting that I would like to share it again.
If you have seen it, forgive me for repeating it. If you haven’t, please, do not miss it.
Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.
~~Louie Schwartzberg~~
~~Published on Nov 22, 2012~~
Stunning time-lapse photography, accompanied by powerful words from Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast.
~Taken from Ted.com~
#Grateful #Thankful #TheSecret is in #MotherNature #Beauty #Divine #Celestial #Deep #Thoughts #God #LivingForLove #EveryDay #LivingInTheNow #LouisSchwartzberg #Photography #timelapsephotography
It Is What It Is 