Seva Canada Turns 30 and Celebrates Giving the Power of Sight to Over 3 Million People
(firmenpresse) - VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 03/28/12 -- , a Canadian eye care charity based in Vancouver, turns 30 on April 6! Since 1982, Seva Canada has restored sight and prevented blindness in the developing world, giving the power of sight to over 3 million of the world's poorest people. But what makes Seva different and effective is its unique approach to international development, empowering the people and communities where it works.
"Seva has grown over the past three decades as a force for good. As an innovative technical adviser, funder, and friend. Seva is helping to develop some of the strongest eye care programs in the world." - , Seva Founder; President, Skoll Global Threats Fund.
"For 30 years, Seva Canada has supported innovation and been a catalyst for change," says Dr. Ken Bassett, Seva's Program Director. Over 200 million people could see tomorrow if they had access to glasses or cataract surgery. These are staggering numbers," says Dr. Bassett. "Imagine 6x the population of Canada and every man, woman and child are blind or have severe low vision."
Seva focuses on achieving long-term change to improve the lives of individuals and their community now and in the future. "Success to Seva comes when foreign intervention is not needed at all. It involves a lot of planning, coordination with local partners, and ongoing research. With development, the goal is to build local capacity and sustainability through training local doctors and providing technology and supplies so that the work continues on an on-going basis even after Seva is no longer involved," said Penny Lyons, Executive Director of Seva Canada.
While the challenge is great, Seva has a tremendous record of success, such as principle partner in India. Thirty years ago, Aravind started with 11 beds and now it is the world's largest eye care program performing 250,000 cataract surgeries per year. Aravind demonstrated how cost recovery could be turned into financial self-sufficiency by pioneering a model of high volume, high quality care in which fees charged to those who can afford them subsidizes free or low-cost care for those who cannot. Seva now adapts this successful model for its programs in other countries around the world.
Seva's innovative sustainability model of enabling communities to care for their own now and in the future through the transfer of knowledge and support means that when someone donates $1 to a program its value is actually much greater. Imagine planting a seed. The seed grows into a tree that then seeds other trees, then a forest, all from the same dollar donation. That $1 helps provide eye care in the present and in the future, it keeps on working for the individual and the community.
Seva was founded by an eclectic group of professors, health professionals, members of the Centers for Disease Control and activists including; , one of the World Health Organization members who successfully eradicated smallpox in India and current president of the Skoll Global Threats Fund, spiritual teacher , and American entertainer and peace activist . The first sizable donation to help Seva in India and do a survey of blindness in Nepal came from the then unknown technology genius .
Seva currently works in 9 developing countries including India, Nepal, Tibet, Cambodia, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Egypt and Guatemala.
Come and celebrate Seva Canada's 30 years of restoring sight and preventing blindness in the developing world with Beyond the Darkness, a photo exhibition by international award-winning photographer Larry Louie. The exhibition takes place from April 23 - May 12, 2012 at the HSBC Pendulum Gallery, 885 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC. For full event details and information on how to RSVP to the reception on April 26 from 6-8pm visit or contact .
About Seva Canada: Seva (pronounced say-va) is a Sanskrit word for service. Seva's vision is a world in which no one is needlessly blind or visually impaired and where those with unavoidable vision loss can achieve their full potential. Seva believes in equal access to eye care for all. Currently Seva Canada works in 9 of the poorest places in the world: Nepal, Tibet, India, Tanzania, Malawi, Madagascar, Cambodia, Guatemala and Egypt.
For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Ms. Deanne Berman.
Media kit available at .
Contacts:
Seva Canada
Ms. Deanne Berman
Marketing & Communications Director
604.713.6622 or Toll-free: 1.877.460.6622
604.733.4292 (FAX)
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Datum: 28.03.2012 - 06:00 Uhr
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