Money
The most useful gift is that of money. Few overheads are needed to raise money. It is the most flexible resource. It is easy and cheap to move to where it is needed. It is the only way in which we can provide operations for cataracts.
We can buy equipment from abroad and have it delivered directly to The Gambia. In the event of an unforeseen emergency, we can react quickly. Our initial aim was to raise the cash for two cataract camps per year, £4,000 to treat 100 patients. As we have funded over 1,000 operations in less than four years, we are able to set our sights much higher. Who knows what we will eventually achieve?
How Your Money is Used
The beneficiaries of your contribution are people in The Gambia who suffer from cataracts but are unable to pay for the operation and the attendant costs of travelling to the eye hospital. Lack of money is the only reason why anyone would suffer with cataracts until they have lost their sight.
When enough money is raised to fund a survey and cataract camp, we contract the The Gambian National Eye Health Programme (NEHP) to gather the team of medical staff, to provide the materials and transport and to perform the operations. The NEHP is based at the Sheikh Zayed Regional Eye Care Centre (SZRECC) in Kanifing. It is the centre of excellence and training for eye care in West Africa.
Once the cataract camp has been held, NEHP produce a clinical report. This comprises the list of patients, their names (and other personal information) and the quality of their vision before and after the operation. There are also photographs and a narrative which often details specific problems encountered.
Patients waiting at a Cataract Camp in The Gambia. Photo: FOTGA
Without funds from donors such as yourselves, those suffering from cataracts cannot afford to pay for the operation. Without funds from donors such as yourselves, these operations cannot be performed by the NEHP at no cost to the patient.
How to contribute money
If you would like to contribute money, you can do so by clicking here, or on the button below. You can make a one off payment or set up a standing order or a direct debit. All funds are gratefully received.
Please enter your details in full and, if you pay tax in the UK, please tick the box to indicate that your donation is eligible for Gift Aid recovery. By this means, our charity is able to reclaim 25% of any donation by a donor who certifies that he or she is a UK tax payer. If a donor gives us £4.00, we can claim £1.00 from HMRC.
OVERHEADS
It is our avowed intention to keep expenditure on overheads to the bare minimum. There are no paid staff or offices in The Gambia or in the UK. Transferring money from the UK to the NEHP is a simple and inexpensive process.
The three trustees of the charity receive no salaries. When officers of the charity travel to The Gambia, they will pay for their own air fare, accommodation and expenses.
In 2022, only 2% of our income was used to raise funds. Support costs amounted to another 2%.
Cataracts Are Curable is very small and very efficient.
CORRUPTION
If one asks for money to be sent to an African country, potential donors will often voice suspicions of corruption. This is perfectly reasonable. There is corruption everywhere.
In so far as it is possible, donors can be assured that their money is not being used for any other purpose than the provision of eye health care for the poor of The Gambia.
There are robust safeguards built into the whole procedure between the receipt of donations and the provision of care which ensure complete transparency.
As a private company limited by guarantee, Cataracts Are Curable is obliged to present accounts to Companies House each year. Accounts are prepared for the period from 1st January to 31st December each year. The annual accounts are also published on this website. CAC are also obliged to present accounts to HMRC and the Charity Commission.
Money is transferred to The Gambia using a fully accredited foreign exchange dealer. When money is released to pay for an eye health survey or cataract camp, the foreign exchange dealer pays the surgeon in charge directly.
The surgeon in charge receives the amount that has been approved by CAC when the budget for the survey or camp was prepared. The items listed in a budget usually comprise the consumable medical supplies, transport and food for staff and patients, advertising and miscellaneous items such as sunglasses for the patients.
Properly prepared receipts for major items are obtained.
A formal report is generated by the surgeon in charge when each survey or cataract camp is completed. These are also published on this website.
Medical and contact details of each cataract patient are recorded.
The trustees will attend a cataract camp if one coincides with a visit to The Gambia.
Notwithstanding the above, CAC could not operate without trust. CAC’s operation is very simple, involving very few people who have, over the nearly ten years that the trustees have worked with them, been totally trustworthy.
The trustees are acutely aware that any corruption would destroy the charity.
Your Time
Your most precious gift. People are needed to form a team of fundraisers operating throughout the UK. They must be people who relish a challenge. The Gambia is a very small country, far away, about which the majority of people know almost nothing. There are no pictures of babies or cuddly animals to display. In this country, suffering from cataracts is not thought of as being a major impairment.
How to contribute your time
We are looking for people who have some association with The Gambia or have been affected by any form of visual impairment – or both. They should be willing to give talks to interested groups, to raise awareness via social media, to arrange sponsored events et cetera. If you would like to contribute your time, please click on the button below.
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Equipment
Background
Much of the equipment used by the ophthalmic surgeons of the NEHP was donated by Sightsavers. They supplied the vehicles, the instruments and training for the surgeons and technicians. They set up a well-equipped scheme for the provision of eye care in The Gambia.
Unfortunately the country was governed for 22 years by a despot who stole millions and millions of pounds from the exchequer. The country was poorly run and its health service was under funded. Many people saw emigration as the only way to escape poverty and those with qualifications had the greatest incentive to go abroad.
The situation has improved since the election of President Barrow in 2016 but there is a massive mountain to climb. In the current situation, many pieces of ophthalmic equipment need to be replaced or repaired.
We have supplied the NEHP with halogen bulbs for slit lamp and operating microscopes.
These are so highly prized that, when the need arises, the technician personally takes the replacement bulb to the instrument to replace the blown bulb. This might be many miles away but this procedure is necessary. A poorly installed halogen bulb can destroy the instrument.
Any instruments that the NEHP are given are deployed immediately to where they are most needed.
Precious ophthalmic equipment packaged and ready to travel to The Gambia. Photo: FoTGA
What is required
We procure ophthalmic equipment and spare parts for the NEHP. Some we buy new, some second-hand and some is donated. Procuring equipment in the UK is only the start. It requires considerable effort to pack and transport the instruments 3,500 miles by sea.
What we ship to the NEHP depends on several factors; firstly what they need, next what is available and thirdly we can afford. An good example of this decision making process concerns the operating microscope that was sent to The Gambia in April 2021.
At least three years ago, we were asked if we could procure an operation microscope. This is an expensive item. A new Scanoptics operating microscope costs between £6,000 and £7,000 and that is not the top of the range. However we made this requirement known to as many people as we could and one of our biggest supporters, Gary Evans of EyeTech Optical, bought and donated a used instrument. This was exactly what was needed: NOT a top of the range piece of equipment with motorised controls, a camera and a screen but a robust, basic instrument, albeit second hand. As soon as it arrived in The Gambia, it was taken 100 miles to an up country hospital in Soma. It was badly needed.
The range of equipment that we have despatched to The Gambia grows all the time.
HOW TO CONTRIBUTE EQUIPMENT
If you have knowledge of equipment used in eye hospitals and know of obsolescent or redundant equipment, please contact us or click the button below. We know that more equipment is needed. We will arrange transportation to The Gambia.