Seva donors help our partners overseas perform everyday miracles. Helping hundreds of blind people see again at an eye camp is a great example of this. You may have read about Seva's campaign to buy a new bus for the Geta Eye Hospital in Nepal. The bus was needed to transport the eye care teams and their equipment to remote areas of the mountains to provide eye care and cataract surgery. A great many people in Canada came together to make this special bus a reality. Some of the Seva supporters who played key roles in getting the bus on the road in May are Jim Peerless, our wonderful donor Nicholas, three employees at TELUS Communications (and TELUS who matched their gifts), Nicholas Halpin, Valerie Mermet, all those who supported the 2010 Gabriola Himalayan Festival, and Seva board member and volunteer Susan Erdmann. We just received more photos of the bus in action!

In the hills of western Nepal, the bus provides the vital link to bring eye care to poor villages

[caption id="attachment_2258" align="aligncenter" width="520" caption="Obstacles en route: water buffaloes and serious potholes"]Navigating the treacherous roads of Nepal 

The burden of blindness in Nepal: a blind patient is carried to an eye camp. You can see from her bandages that she has received bilateral cataract surgery to restore her sight. When the bandages are removed, she will be able to walk on her own again. .

The shared burden of blindness: This is Dr. Khadka, the ophthalmologist who does the eye surgeries with the team from Geta Eye Hospital. He's carrying a heavy load of supplies to an eye camp in the remote hills of western Nepal.

The eye care team from Geta Eye Hospital

Some of the many catarct surgical patients in Nepal that were able to receive treatment thanks to the new Geta bus

A group of Nepalese children with eye problems including cataracts

Here's the video made after the inaugural trip of the bus in May 2011: Please support Seva's eye care programs in Nepal and donate today. $50 will fully fund a sight-restoring cataract surgery and be life-changing for both the patient and his or her family. See the Seva blog post Happy Bus Day for more information and results from the first camps.