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Fundraiser Meriel Reeve visited Cameroon, and gives an insight into our work in a country with an immense shortage of health care professionals, with only seven doctors per 100,000 people.

After a night at Travelodge Terminal 5, all is in order and I am soon boarding the plane, ready for what awaits me in Cameroon.

On the plane I meet Cameroon national, Francois, who is delighted that I work for Sightsavers. He regales me with questions and opinions about Sightsavers, gesticulating and pointing wildly as he does so, until dinner is delivered which he wolfs down with a cry of ‘Bon Appetit!’, before pulling his blanket over his head and promptly falling asleep.

I’m met at the airport by Marlene (office assistant) and Cyprienne (driver) with the broadest of grins and the biggest of hugs from Marlene. What a lovely entry to Cameroon.

Day one

After meeting with the staff at Sightsavers’ Cameroon office, I set off for Limbe.

As we drive the 240km from Yaounde to Douala, buses pump poisonous black fumes from their exhaust pipes, and we pass through luscious green swathes of forest dotted with small wooden shacks along the way. We pass through the mighty traffic-congested city of Douala, and then on through Edea, where the electricity is supplied from. Iron cut-outs of human figures stand upright along the roadside – monuments to people who have died in traffic accidents, with the numbers of victims imprinted onto the iron.

Day two

I visit the National Comprehensive High School in Limbe, in order to witness a screening exercise. The students are incredibly well behaved, rising from their shared desks as we enter the room, and chorusing a greeting. It soon becomes apparent why they are so well behaved: their teacher won’t tolerate any nonsense at all!

On the blackboard at the front of the room has been fastened an eye test of letters and shapes, and ophthalmic community nurse Frances uses a piece of rope to measure a distance of six metres from the blackboard. Each student must sit at this distance to perform their test, (covering one eye with the palm of their hand and calling out the letters that Frances points to, before changing to the other eye) and their name, age, sex and visual acuity measurements are recorded. Anyone with a visual acuity of less than 6/9 is given a piece of paper inviting their parents to come and talk to the school principal, with the objective of referring the student to the refractionist (who will determine their prescription for glasses).

Our next stop is to visit people who have received treatment through our South West Province Eye Care Programme, such as Maurice Zaya. We drive up a narrow red dusty road, with wooden huts lining the way and villagers performing their daily chores. Chickens strut about and washing blows in the wind. Maurice emerges from behind a curtain beaming and laughing: it's hard to believe that a few months ago this man had to be helped to go to the toilet. In his early 60s, he was working as a chainsaw operator and farmer when his vision started deteriorating. One day, he woke up and could not see at all.

He was terrified and worried about how his family would earn an income without him. He also hated being dependent on his family. Fortunately, Maurice was only blind in both of his eyes for two weeks, before having his cataracts operated on at Limbe Eye Clinic.

Day three

Up bright and early to visit Kumba Eye Unit, one of three main units Sightsavers supports in the South West Province of Cameroon. I don scrubs and make my way to witness the treatment of Epie Sporah.

Sporah has cataract in each eye as well as slight glaucoma. She is lain down on the bed in the ‘blocking room,’ where she is injected with 7mm of lidocaine and adrenaline just beneath her left eye, and more anaesthetic into the side of her face by her left earlobe. This blocks the optic nerve and all of the muscles around the eye, hence the room’s name.

After the injection a retrobulbar block is applied to the eye, which is basically a ball held down on the eye socket in order to return the eye pressure to normal. Sporah is then left to rest before being led through to the operating room. Once inside, she is again lain down and Dr Ebongo covers her head and face so that only her left eye can be seen. He then looks through the operating microscope and holds open the eye with a metal implement, while holding the eyelid open with a simple stitch.

He makes an incision in the eye before pressing down and slowly coaxing the cataract upwards. When it has been pulled out I am amazed at the size and thickness that this cataract has been allowed to get to. Dr Ebongo then inserts an intraocular lens, stitches the eye and closes the sutures, washes it and sucks out any residue, and then finally applies a cream antibiotic to the eye before closing the eyelid. The senior ophthalmic nurse, Mutebe Vincent Etiki, takes over at this point, bandaging the eye and leading Sporah back to the ward – it’s over in a matter of minutes and I am truly impressed.

These were just a few of the incredible people I was able to meet during my trip. It was also an amazing privilege to meet the hard-working staff who make it all happen. My visit to Cameroon was such an inspiring experience, and one that I will always treasure.