23112 Free Cataract Surgeries in Sri Lanka in 2023

Alaka Foundation from Malaysia started funding cataract surgeries in Sri Lanka through Assist RR from January 2023. Alaka Foundation’s funds have allowed Assist RR to fund 7099 surgeries up to May 2023 covering 20 districts.  Buoyed by this success, which has changed the lives of so many for the good, Alaka Foundation have introduced another philanthropist (Ananda Foundation) from Malaysia, who has also come forward to fund more surgeries in Sri Lanka. This philanthropy, implemented by Assist RR, has been offering an unprecedented country-wide solution to prevent avoidable blindness for Sri Lanka’s poorest people – whoever and wherever they be.  

Alaka and Ananda foundations have funded another $400k towards more surgeries since May 2023. In total, Alaka and Ananda foundations have now donated USD 550k (LKR 180 Million) between January and December 2023. This funding enabled 23,112 free surgeries to be carried out in 26 hospitals and helped these 23,112 people to regain their eye sight and to lead independent lives with dignity. These people have no alternative means of saving their sight. Northern Province, looked after mainly by Consultant Eye Surgeon, Dr M Malaravan, benefitted the most from this project (8639 surgeries). 6900 of these 8639 free surgeries were conducted at Jaffna TH and the rest 1741 were carried out in Vavuniya. 3772 patients received free surgeries at Colombo National Eye Hospital through this project. A table of hospitals with the number of beneficiaries is provided in this link: Table of Hospitals and Number of Beneficiaries in 2023 & Map Showing the Hospitals Covered in Sri Lanka

We are hoping for as many again in the year 2024. Their gratitude for retaining their income, independence, dignity and their ability to see and engage with the world around them knows no bounds. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Alaka and Ananda Foundations for providing these life changing surgeries free of charge and the dedication and tireless services of the surgeons and their support staff. 

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7099 Cataract Surgeries Funded by Alaka Foundation, Malaysia Implemented by Assist RR

In 2022, Assist RR funded 2199 free cataract surgeries using funds raised by Team Solihull (Solihull School Community in the UK). Inspired by Team Solihull’s successful cataract project, a Philanthropist from Malaysia through Alaka Foundation came forward to fund free cataract surgeries in Sri Lanka from January 2023. Alaka Foundation to kick start this project provided $50k to fund free surgeries (Phase 01). Assist RR funded 2045 free surgeries in 10 districts in Sri Lanka.

Although it was estimated that we would fund around 1750 surgeries for the $50k, we finally managed to fund 2045 surgeries for the same amount as part of Phase 01. During the implementation of this project, Alaka Foundation provided another $100k towards Phase 02 of the current cataract surgeries project. Those Alaka Foundation funds have allowed Assist RR to fund another 5054 surgeries (Phases 2) up to May 2023 covering 20 districts (a map is attached).  In total 7099 cataract surgeries have been funded by Alaka Foundation (Phases 01&02). This project, costing LKR 58.5 Million ($161k) at an average cost of LKR 8250.00 per surgery, was implemented and coordinated by Assist RR (UK & SL). A summary of the hospital wise surgeries is given in this link:  http://assistrr.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Phases-1-2-Summary-310723.pdf

Buoyed by this success, which has changed the lives of so many for the good, Alaka Foundation have introduced another philanthropist (Ananda Foundation) from Malaysia, who has also come forward to fund more surgeries in Sri Lanka. This philanthropy, implemented by Assist RR, is offering an unprecedented country-wide solution to prevent avoidable blindness for Sri Lanka’s poorest people – whoever and wherever they be. Alaka and Ananda foundations have funded another $200k towards more surgeries (Phase 3) since June 2023. 

Jaffna Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) recently conducted an outreach screening programme in the remote areas of Jaffna district (Vadamarachchi East & Islets off the west coast of Jaffna Peninsula) and identified around 400 cataract patients. Surgeries took place for these patients in April and May at the Jaffna TH by Dr M Malaravan. 

Post pandemic, there are poor people across the country, who are waiting for cataract surgeries, some of whom are in real danger of those cataracts becoming irreversibly blind. Many of these awaiting surgeries are farmers, fishmen, labourers and childminders. Losing or deteriorating sight would mean they won’t be able to provide for their families or contribute to the country’s economy. They are destined to become a burden, not a help. They will also lose their dignity and independence. There are many patients, who have been waiting for up to 5 years and there are many who were blind in both eyes. They are all benefitting and regaining their eye sights as a result of the benevolence of Alaka and Anada Foundations. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Alaka and Ananda Foundations for providing these life changing surgeries free of charge.

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The Penney Family & Team Solihull’s next ultra-challenge to raise funds for clean Water Wells

An appeal by The Penney Family and Team Solihull to friends and supporters of UK Assist RR & IMHOUK Fundraising Goal of £18,000

Dear friends,

We are taking on our next ultra-challenge in the hope that you will sponsor us. Your support would help us provide constant access to clean, uncontaminated water supplies for families and school children across the Upcountry, North and East.

The Problem

Many of Sri Lanka’s poorest people do not have regular and safe access to uncontaminated running water. This gives rise to a range of health, hygiene and hydration issues, which in turn adversely affect both livelihoods and education. Many children are missing school because of contaminated water illnesses and many teenage girls are missing even more of their education due to inadequate sanitary facilities at school when menstruating. At a time of severe downward economic pressure on Sri Lanka’s most disenfranchised people, the poorest families don’t have the means to cultivate sufficient fruit and vegetables for their own use or to sell surplus yields to generate livelihood income without easy access to running water.

The Solution – Clean Water Wells

IMHO USA, Assist RR UK and Well-Being (Sri Lanka) will work in partnership to raise funds, identify those most in need, implement the building of water wells and deliver on their efficacy.We will also partner with the Agricultural Faculty of Jaffna University to provide the beneficiaries with seed packages and training in optimising the growth of high yield crops for personal and livelihood benefits. A typical shallower dug-out well currently costs about £500 and a deeper tubed borehole well costs approximately £1000. Should individual or family donors sponsor a well in full, we will include a naming plaque and send photos in return.

The HUGE Incentive

The Board of IMHO USA will very generously match everything you donate, up to approx. £18,000 ($20,000). This paves the way for us to double our impact if we can reach our target.

Our pledge & your donations

100% of donations made via the most appropriate link for you below will go directly towards this projectAll we need now is your support to make it happen and we would be forever grateful if you would donate through one of the channels listed here:

Our Ultra-Challenge – the 50km Windsor Challenge

The community of Solihull School has been a long-term supporter of Sri Lanka’s poorest people. Having previously raised funds for numerous education, health care and livelihood projects our team of over 20 staff, pupils and parents, past and present, will take on the 50km Easter Challenge from Windsor Racecourse, looping through the Great Park, Windsor Castle, Runnymede and along the Thames Path on 1st April 2023. We would very much appreciate your support in transforming lives for the better and we look forward to keeping donors up to date with developments.

With very best wishes, The Penney family & Team Solihull

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2199 Cataract Surgeries funded by Team Solihull in Sri Lanka

Mr Mark Penney, Headmaster of Solihull Preparatory School, made an appeal in April 2021 (http://assistrr.org/?p=4334), for providing free cataract surgeries in Sri Lanka. As a result of this appeal, Solihull School Community (Team Solihull) raised £45,270.00 in the UK (including gift aids) through our charity Assist RR. Due to Covid-19, it wasn’t practical to conduct many surgeries in 2021. However, Assist RR have now managed to complete this project, and funded 2199 surgeries in Sri Lanka. Breakdown of these surgeries is given in this link: Team Solihull Cataract Surgeries Summary. Some photos are also attached from these camps. I am sure you can see the smiles and happiness of the patients, who benefitted from this project. None of these patients will ever have the means of reversing this preventable blindness for themselves. In total, we spent £50,038.00 for these 2199 surgeries. Team Solihull raised £45,270.00 and Assist RR contributed £4768.00.

We would like to express our gratitude to Team Solihull and to everyone who donated very generously towards this project. Special thanks should go to Mark & Donna Penney, and their team for walking 53kM for raising this amazing sum of funds. We also would like to thank all the surgeons (14 of them), who volunteered to carry out these 2199 surgeries. Surgeons’ names are given in Team Solihull Cataract Surgeries Summary. We would like to mention Dr M Malaravan, Surgeon, Jaffna Teaching Hospital (TH), who performed 827 surgeries for patients from Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar and Mullaithivu at Jaffna TH, Dr N Niroshan, Surgeon at Kalmunai North DGH (600 surgeries), and Dr Waruna Wijayasriwardena, Surgeon at Anurathapura TH (320 surgeries). Patients were taken to Jaffna from Vanni districts by buses organised by Assist RR. Following a request from the director of Colombo National Eye Hospital, Dr A R M Thowfeek, we funded 200 surgeries at the Colombo National Eye Hospital including 50 to the inmates of Welikada prison. 

This is a huge support to the patients in Sri Lanka, as there is lack of medical supplies to the hospitals. Most of the hospitals are relying on donations to perform their routine surgeries. Following the successful completion of this project, a philanthropist from Malaysia has already provided a significant sum of funds for continuing our cataract project. Our sincere gratitude to his family for their continued support to the needy people in Sri Lanka.  We have already received several requests from hospitals for support to carry out cataract surgeries. We will continue with our endeavour to assist vulnerable people with the support of many of you, who have been supporting very generously.  

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Enhancement of living and livelihood conditions in Parankiyamadu villgae, Kiran, Batticaloa

Further to our appeal for the above project in Oct 2020, we received financial supports from a Philanthropist from Malaysia (funded through the Alaka Foundation, and Tamil Forum Malaysia (TFM)), and the International Medical Health organisation (IMHO), USA. These were in addition to the funds raised by Assist RR in the UK. Assist RR, Sri Lanka, started the project in Dec 2020 and completed almost everything in July 2021, except half of the fishing nets, which were handed over in Feb 2022. The total cost of the project was LKR 30,284,407.00. We managed to complete the following despite the considerable challenges we faced during this difficult pandemic period: 43 shelters & 45 new toilets; Completed 43 toilets that were half done previously by others and not usable; 16 boats and engines to benefit 80 families (one boat and engine shared by 5 families); 160 nets to the above 80 families to use on the boats (2 nets per family); 132 nets to 33 families who already had their own canoes but couldn’t fish due to no nets; 12 nets to another 3 families. We were able to do all these for less costs due to the intelligent, efficient, and selfless efforts of our Sri Lankan president – Engineer Henry Amalarj. He constructed each shelter at a cost of LKR 350,000.00 (see attached photo) and each new toilet for LKR 56,250.00. He faced many difficulties due to Covid19 but still managed to complete the project in a very cost-efficient manner. Break down of the project and funds received are given below:

This project has completely transformed the living and livelihood conditions of the village. Families have decent shelters without worrying about rainy days, they have toilets without the need to go out in the open, the men are staying in their villages and are feeding their families by going out to the sea and fish. We were able to do all these because of the significant contributions from Malaysian Philanthropist through TFM, IMHO USA, and the support of Assist RR friends in the UK. CHRF, UK, had already funded 35 wells in this village that were completed by Henry Amalaraj. We feel privileged to have been able to facilitate the significant enhancement of living conditions for the 120 families who live in village. We would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who were involved in this project.

Original Appeal of this project: http://assistrr.org/?p=4311

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Fundraising for Cataract Camps in Sri Lanka by Team Solihull

You may recall that back in 2018 Mr Mark Penney and Mrs Donna Penney took on the challenge of a very long walk. With the support of kind-hearted donors, and that of their friends and family, they were able to raise over £53,000 for a livelihood project which provided self-sustaining fishing incomes for close to 100 families in Sri Lanka. We are happy to report that those interventions proved life changing for the wider network of family members who benefited directly from the generosity of their donors. On June 26th 2021, Mark & Donna will set off on another very long walk (53KM) but this time they will be joined by a sizeable group (Team Solihull – 16 of them) all of whom are either staff, pupils or parents of Solihull School – past and present. The community of Solihull School has been a long and very generous supporter of the work Assist RR and IMHO USA do, raising in excess of £100,000 for education, healthcare and livelihood projects in the north and east of Sri Lanka. This time Team Solihull have set their sights on preventing or reversing blindness in over 1000 of Sri Lanka’s poorest people, none of whom will ever have the means of doing so for themselves. As donors, you are also incentivised by the hugely generous prospect of IMHO USA pledge matching all monies raised up to $20,000 and the assurance that 100% of your donations will be directed to the beneficiaries. With the full support of donors, we can offer cataract surgeries for just £30 each. Please consider sponsoring Mark, Donna & Team Solihull. We know we can count on the community of Solihull School to offer their support as the community is familiar with the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils. Therefore, as Tamil Diaspora, please join the community of Solihull School in making a very real, life changing difference to 1000+ innocent victims of the civil war. Please use the link below to make your contribution:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?userUrl=Solihull&pageUrl=1

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An appeal to assist victims of war in Parankiyamadu villgae, Kiran DS division of Batticaloa district

Sri Lankan AssistRR president Eng. Henry Amalraj recently received a request to visit the above village to assess the living conditions in the village. Henry visited it and identified that there were many desperate needs including wells, toilets, shelters, and livelihood support. He approached Children’s Hunger Relief Fund (CHRF), UK, who agreed to fund 35 wells. A project for providing wells, funded by CHRF, is currently underway. Henry also requested AssistRR, UK, to visit the village to assess their needs. AssistRR visited this village on 13/14 Oct 2020 and assessed the needs. There are nearly 150 families, including rehabilitated LTTE former members, living in this village. One family of 3 children, of which the wife was a rehabilitated LTTE member, did not have mats to sleep on the sand floor and was using a piece of string and a piece of saree tied together to fetch water from the well. This family’s need was addressed immediately. The following needs were identified as a result:

  1. 44 families need proper shelters as they are now living in very pathetic condition – Planning to build safe and acceptable shelters @ Rs 300k per shelter.
  2. 45 families have no toilets and have been using the bushes as cover in the outskirts of the village.
  3. There are 43 half-done toilets that need completion.

There are 28 women headed families including a number of young widows. AssistRR are very keen to provide some livelihood support to these women headed families. There are another 122 families, who are capable of fishing. However, due to lack of fishing gear, men are working as fishing labourers in Udappu, near Puttalam. The families are very eager to commence their fishing activities in their own village, so that the men can stay at home and work. This would require assistance to purchase fishing gear as follows: 40 families have canoes and are requesting fishing nets only; 3 families have boats and engines, but need nets to go fishing; Remaining 79 families would require engine boats and nets for fishing locally. We could provide one set of boat, engine and nets to five families. This would equate to needing 16 boats. An anonymous donor family have agreed to fund £25k to purchase 10 sets of boats at a cost of around Rs 600,000.00 per set. We need another £20k to purchase another 6 sets of boats and nets to 43 families mentioned above.

The total cost of this project is around £122k. IMHO USA has agreed to join forces and have already started raising funds. CHRF, UK, is also considering contributing towards building 45 new toilets at a total cost of around £15k. AssistRR and IMHO USA need to raise around £82k to complete this project. In order to raise funds for this project, AssistRR have started a crowdfunding appeal for which we are aiming to raise £50,000. We would love it if you could donate using the link below to access our project page. Any contribution large or small will be hugely appreciated. Thank you. Please donate by pressing here

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