It's always thrilling to look through the dozens of photographs and stories that emerge from eye camps. Surgical eye camps in remote areas of Tibet are magical events. Literally hundreds of blind people, young and old, are led by their relatives to the camp to receive sight-restoring cataract surgery. Many have been blind for many years and need help from a full-time caregiver -- often a child who can then not attend school. Tibetans call the ophthalmologists "the eye openers". The surgery takes about 15 minutes and costs about $50 and it changes people's lives forever. Each year Seva Canada (www.seva.ca) and our sister organization, Seva Foundation, conduct up to 25 eye camps in Tibet. Here's a great group shot from an eye camp in the autumn of 2008. It makes us all smile.

A sea of happy faces of Tibetans who have had their sight restored at a Seva eye camp