Little Dieu’s future is much brighter now

Dieu was born with a cataract in her left eye and had developed a strong squint from trying to compensate for her poor vision. If she didn’t get treatment soon, she was at risk of completely losing sight in her eye.

There’s no way her parents could have paid for the surgery needed to save their daughter’s sight. As her mother, Nha, said, “I want her to carry on in the schoolyard just like everyone else. Children are supposed to play every day, have fun, and smile. I just want that for her, too.”

Fortunately, when Dieu was six years old, the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital visited Can Tho in Vietnam, and Dieu’s parents decided to make the journey to save her sight. Following an arduous three-hour journey from the rural village where she lived, wedged between her parents on their motorcycle, Dieu received the surgery she needed – free of charge!

Dieu’s mother was elated after her daughter’s surgery, saying, “This is my one child and I have always dreamed of her future.”

Little Dieu’s future is much brighter now, but there are so many more children like her needing help. Congenital cataracts like hers, and conditions like uncorrected refractive error, strabismus and ptosis are the leading causes of visual impairment in children in Vietnam and many other low and middle-income countries.