Spreading the word on the airwaves
Sadiya Sale is from Sokoto State, one of the poorest areas of Nigeria. The 25-year-old has suffered from eye infections since she was nine years old, and didn’t seek treatment as she thought it wasn’t unusual.
She didn’t know that the painful scratching sensation she was experiencing was advanced trachoma, that had developed into a condition called trichiasis. Her eyelashes had turned inwards, rubbing against the cornea. If left untreated, infections can cause scarring and eventually blindness.
Heard it on the radio
Neither Sadiya or her family had heard of anyone who had had trichiasis surgery, and didn’t know about the treatment that was available until they heard about a local community screening programme on the radio. Radios are widely used by people across Africa, so our partners use them to spread the word about eye care services.
Sadiya had to travel seven kilometres from Gaidu, the small settlement where she lives, to the Ilela Outreach Centre. She took her mother Asausaudi and her two-year-old son Rabiu. There is no public transport system in Sokoto State, so Asausaudi paid 50 naira (about 20 pence) to hire a motorbike to take her daughter for the treatment she needed.
Sadiya’s husband was unable to come, as he was working away from home in the capital city Lagos. Many of Sokoto’s farming community cannot survive on the harvest alone, and thousands leave their families and move south for three or four months of the year to earn enough money to get by.
At the Ilela Outreach Centre Rabui is checked to see if he has signs of trachoma, as it is highly infectious and is most common amongst women and children. Luckily he doesn’t have it.
I would like to open my own business selling grain outside the house
Sadiya needs surgery in both eyes, but only has her left eye operated on to begin with. She will return to have surgery on her right eye after she has fully recovered.
The operation is a success, and afterwards she lies quietly in the corridor with her mother and son until she feels well enough to return home. Sadiya tells us, “When I am better I would like to open my own business selling grain outside the house”.
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Comment on this article
Aliyu Mohammed, Nigeria (Mar 2010)
There is nothing dehumanizing than for someone to lose sight. Restoring sight is reshaping life, human empowerment and the greatest road map to fighting poverty in Africa and eventually attainment of MDGs by 2015. Sightsavers work is palpably life touching.