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Josephine, who is 39 years old, lost her sight in October 2004. She had no idea why she'd gone blind. She only knew that her sight had been getting gradually worse, until one day she couldn't see anything at all.

Her best friend Emelia, who lives across the street, helped Josephine to cope and come to terms with her condition.

"I had to sit with Josephine when she was cooking to make sure she didn't fall into the fire." Emelia says. "She was so unhappy and would often cry. It really upset me to see her so distressed."

Unable to look after herself, let alone anyone else, Josephine sent her four children to live with her sister in a nearby village. One of her sons stayed behind to help look after her, but had to drop out of school in order to do so.

Farming had been the main source of income for Josephine and her husband, who live in a village on the outskirts of Kumba, a large town in western Cameroon. The couple worked together on their small plantation to grow plantains, cocoa and yams. But after Josephine lost her sight she had to give up work and the family had very little money coming in.

Then one day Josephine received a visit which was to change her life. The eye care team from Kumba eye unit, supported by Sightsavers, were travelling around the area identifying people with eye problems. Josephine was diagnosed as having cataract in both her eyes and referred to Kumba hospital.

Three days later she was at the hospital and after a 20-minute operation her cataract was removed.

Back home in her village, Josephine is overjoyed to see her family and friends again. "While I was blind, everything was done for me," she says. "I had to wait for my husband to come home if I needed anything. Now I can go back to work and prepare food by myself."

Emelia is very happy now that her friend can see again. "If I had enough money, I would celebrate every day with Josephine with a bottle of beer!" she says.

Sightsavers works in some of the poorest countries in the world to educate people about the cause and prevention of blindness, as well as supporting people who are irreversibly blind to have equal right and opportunities and lead independent lives.