Eye care amid the tea leaves in Bangladesh - Sitali's story

The tea pickers on Bangladesh’s 167 commercial tea estates lack of access to quality health care, including eye health. To help prevent and treat vision loss in this hard-working population, Orbis teamed up with local eye care partner, Nayan, for a year-long project to provide community eye screening and deliver free glasses, medication and surgeries to tea pickers and their families in Sylhet province.

Sitali was only 21 when she began suffering from severe vision difficulties. As a student from a tea worker family in Malnicherra Tea Estate, she became worried about her future when she realized she couldn’t see the writing on the blackboard at school and was struggling even outside of school.

“Not only in the classroom but also in various activities of daily life, I had to face problems with my eyesight difficulties,” she says. “I was so sad I could not perform well.”

After her father passed away and her family became dependent on her mother’s earnings, Sitali was intent on getting a job despite her poor eyesight. In September 2023, she took a chance by applying to become a volunteer with the Orbis-Nayan eye care project. Once accepted, she received training on basic eye screening and was also screened herself.

The test revealed extremely poor distance vision acuity, and Sitali received free glasses to restore her eyesight. Now, as a Community Eye Care Worker, Sitali assists other in accessing life-changing eye treatment just as she did.

“A few days back, I could not see well, and I thought myself cursed,” she says in wonder. “And today I am screening the eyesight of other people in the community, assisting them to get eye treatment.”

We’d like to say a big thank you to all involved in this project – from eye care partner Nayan to our loyal supporters – thanks to you, hundreds of tea pickers can provide for their families with extra earnings.