Help us protect the next generation from river blindness
River blindness appeal
Did you know? If you give €250 or more to CBM in a calendar year, your donation could be worth 45% more.
Through the Revenue Commissioners Tax Efficient Giving Scheme, we could claim at least €112 if you fill out a tax relief form.
Albert was known as an expert hunter and farmer in his village. In his village in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he worked hard, providing food for his family, as well as money to pay school fees for his five children.
Now though, Albert can no longer provide for his family. River blindness has stolen his sight, and now it threatens his whole family and his community.
“Since the day my eyes died, I have felt so unhappy, because I am depending on my children and grandchildren. I wake up in the morning and I wait for them to give me water and food. Afterwards I sit in my hut. I’m just sitting. Where can you go without a guide? I’m stuck in one place. What sort of life is this?”
River blindness is the second leading infectious cause of preventable blindness. Around the world, millions of people are at risk of infection, most living in sub-Saharan Africa. Causing uncomfortable itching as well as irreversible sight loss, the disease is spread by flies that live near fast-flowing rivers. Albert and his family need to collect water from these rivers every day.
A medicine called Mectizan prevents this blindness and itching. It has been donated by a pharmaceutical company, and generous support has allowed CBM to distribute this medicine to over 2 million people.
So much has been done to to address the spread of river blindness in the DRC through donations of this medicine, volunteers and the generous support of CBM supporters. But more than 40 million people still need this medicine to save sight.
Please support families like Albert’s. Just ten euro per month is enough to protect the sight of an incredible 700 people.
Not only could your gift protect people from river blindness, it could protect them from future exclusion, helplessness, and loneliness.