Protecting generations from the pain and agony of Trachoma

First Ayehu's eyes began to swell. Tiny lumps formed on the inside of her eyelids, scarring them until they turned inward. When she blinked her eyelashes scraped against her eyes, causing severe pain. Ayehu had Trachoma – an infectious disease carried by flies, and spread easily in the absence of clean water. For eight years she suffered.
 
The nearest hospital was too far away to reach by foot. And with five children to feed, Ayehu had to stay to take care of them. Each day her sight grew worse, and the pain became unbearable.
 
Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, and one of our partner organisations, we set up a small outreach clinic in Dawe Langano, the village in Southern Ethiopia where Ayehu lives.
 

Working on the ground in Ethiopia, our Co-workers know all too well about life in the village. One CBM Co-worker described to me the plight of women like Ayehu …
 “The fact that many people can survive here is a miracle. The fate for most people is far from a
miracle. For most, they die from diarrhoeal diseases or are blinded by Trachoma.”
 
Ayehu struggled to run her store, and every day she worried she’d transmit the infection to her children or her granddaughter, Mekdes.
 
You may know that Trachoma thrives because of its ability to spread through families.
 
Mothers like Ayehu become infected. Either through contact with a blackfly carrying the disease, or by washing with dirty water. Once infection occurs, the bacteria then pass to the towels and linens mothers use to carry their babies. And so babies ‘inherit’ the condition. They grow up and pass it onto their own children. And the cycle continues.
 
This may have been how Ayehu’s daughter, Alemlanchi, became infected. When we found Alemlanchi, the initial stage of Trachoma infection had taken hold. Her eyes were already starting to swell.

We’re doing this in three ways, and we need your help …
 
You can help cure women like Alemlanchi, who are in the early stage of infection, with Zithromax. This powerful antibiotic – just one dose a year for five years – kills Trachoma and protects against re-infection for life. And it costs so little! In fact, a gift of €30 today could help us distribute a full course of Zithromax treatment to 60 people.
 
Ayehu’s Trachoma was so advanced that surgery was the only way to save her sight. Amazingly, this surgery only costs €15 to repair the damage inflicted by this horrible disease. A gift of €30 could pay for an operation for 2 people who have Trichiasis – late stage Trachoma.
 
Or you could help us stop the spread of Trachoma by giving €30 today. Your gift can help CBM drill clean water wells, and educate children like Mekdes on the proper way to wash their hands and faces. Clean water is key to stopping the disease.

The nearest source of clean water used to be more than ten kilometres away from the village.
 
Every day, children made this long journey to collect water in large plastic containers. The water they gathered is used for washing, drinking, and it’s used to wash clothes, cattle, donkeys, and other farm animals. So it’s no wonder that Trachoma is able to spread so easily.
 
Just a few kilometres from the clinic, CBM has drilled a well where people in the village can access fresh drinking water. This one well is saving the sight – and the lives – of 300 families from blinding diseases like Trachoma.
 
And CBM dug the well using funds raised by caring people like you! Now Mekdes makes the short walk each day from her home to the well. She washes herself, using proper hand and face-washing techniques CBM field workers taught her. She’s happy because she knows that the water is clean and safe.

Ayehu was incredibly grateful that she was able to receive surgery. After eight years of suffering with pain you and I can probably only imagine, she was cured – right in her own village. And with the clinic and the clean water well, Ayehu is hopeful about life in her village, and the future of her children and her little granddaughter Mekdes.
 
Alemlanchi is happy that she won’t suffer with Trachoma, the way she watched her mother suffer for so many years. She’s 18 years old, and hopes to become a teacher one day. For the first time in her life she faces her future with optimism, and without the fear of Trachoma.
 
And I’m happy to tell you that Mekdes is enjoying her life. She loves visiting the well everyday and washing her face with clean fresh water.
 
You see, by making a generous gift to CBM today, you won’t help just one person, you’ll protect generation … after generation … after generation … from the agony of Trachoma.