Seva’s AGM at the Centre For Peace in Vancouver was a great success! Nancy Mortifee, Board Chair, did a fantastic job welcoming everyone and making sure the meeting ran smoothly.

Nancy Mortifee Seva Board Chair

Norm Grdina from Morrow & Co. provided our auditor’s report and gave Seva the thumbs up. We liked him so much we appointed them for another year as our auditor. Retiring board member, David Hardouin, was thanked for his wonderful service. He will surely be missed but we’re sure he’ll still be involved and will hopefully drop by the office from time to time. The other bittersweet farewell was to Paula Ford, our Products Manager who is retiring from Seva in June of 2012. She has been involved with Seva in one way or another for over 25 years. What will we do without her?! Not to worry though, we won’t let her leave without a proper send-off in the spring. Unfortunately Dr. Mariano Yee from Visualiza Eye Care System, our partner in Guatemala, was unable to make it to the AGM as his visa didn’t arrive in time (just got it today!). Lucky for us, Dr. Marty Spencer, an ophthalmologist in Nanaimo, and a longtime Seva board member was able to fill in and tell us all about his recent trip to Tibet. Dr. Spencer made the arduous journey to Yushu, a town in eastern Tibet that was devastated by an earthquake in April 2010. An eye camp was being held in Yushu and it was hoped that he could help upgrade the surgical skills of the only cataract surgeon in the city, Dr. Norbu Tzering. Marty gave us his first-hand account of his experience in Yushu along with some amazing photos. To read all about his time in Tibet visit http://bit.ly/tfB4eb

Dr. Marty Spencer, Board Member, sharing his trip to Yushu Tibet

We were also wonderfully entertained by William Jans who shared his eastern Tibetan adventure seeing cataract surgeries at Kham Eye Centre in Dartsedo. William, a talented photographer and avid traveller hosts live presentations about his absurd travels, selling out theatres across Canada. Using humour, music and photography, William, dressed in a Tibetan Khampa (cowboy) hat and Chinese silk jacket, conveyed his experiences including a touching and inspiring story of 3 sisters who all travelled together to have cataract surgery. Stay tuned for William’s new show dates and visit www.wrjphoto.com And thank you to William for taking such great photos of the AGM as you can see in this blog!

William Jans sharing his Tibetan adventure

Penny Lyons, Executive Director, provided an overview of the programs. In case you missed the AGM here are some of the details:

Penny Lyons, Seva Executive Director

FUNDING Seva has been expanding its funding base so that we are not reliant on any one source. We received a 5-year funding commitment from the Canadian International Development Agency, as well as funding from the Community Initiatives Program (CIP) sponsored by the Alberta Government. GUATEMALA Seva has been working with Visualiza, funding their pediatric programs and now will be working to expand their programs to the Department of San Marcos – a very poor area in southwestern Guatemala where very little eye care currently exists.

Laura Spencer, Seva Board Member selling Visualiza fundraising bracelets

TIBET Seva Tibet is providing eye care services in every Tibetan region of China and has become remarkably good at fundraising – this year alone they’ve received over $80,000 from embassies based in Beijing. NEPAL Seva Nepal is intent on reaching every underserved area in western Nepal and in the last 3 months has opened primary eye care centres in two new regions with more in the planning stages. CAMBODIA Seva Cambodia, with funding from G Adventures (formerly Gap Adventures) and Planeterra Foundation, are building Cambodia’s first primary eye care centre just south of Battambang in Moung Roussey which will be inaugurated in March. The ultimate plan is to build a new eye hospital there that will serve all of Cambodia’s Northern provinces. EASTERN AFRICA Seva is supporting programs in Tanzania, Malawi and Madagascar as well as outreach in Burundi.  A large portion of funding supports outreach and pediatric programs in each of these countries. In Madagascar, Seva donors are creating a nationwide pediatric program from the ground up. One of the more innovative initiatives that our partner in Africa, the Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology, has begun is using existing microfinance networks to help deliver eye care and treatment information to rural communities.  So far, it appears that this program has been so successful that we have sent someone from Africa to Nepal to help implement the program there as well. INDIA Aravind Eye Care System in India is establishing Vision Centres throughout Southern India with Seva donor funding – each of which will provide eye care to about 65,000 of India’s rural poor. Without you, our partners and supporters, Seva wouldn’t be able to do the work that we do, and this year’s AGM was a fantastic way to celebrate our successes, learn about the work that is being done, the work that still needs to be done and to spend some time together. Thank you to all our volunteers for making the AGM such a success. And thank you to all of you that continue to believe in a world in which no one is needlessly blind or visually impaired. We look forward to celebrating our 30^th Anniversary with all of you in 2012! The first event will be Beyond the Darkness a photo exhibition by Larry Louie an award-winning photographer and Seva Board member.  The exhibit will run from April 23-May 12, 2012 at the HSBC Pendulum Gallery in Vancouver with a reception on April 26^th.  For full details visit www.seva.ca/anniversaryevents.htm

Nepalese Temple photograph by Larry Louie

We hope to see you there!