Some time ago, I had read that more than 80% of all blindness in the developing world is “avoidable”: unlike in the UK, where only a small proportion of blindness is untreatable, in the developing world millions of people are needlessly blind – indeed, 50% of all blindness is caused by cataracts which can usually be treated easily and inexpensively.

 

I have lived and travelled extensively in Africa and know at first hand how impossible any form of blindness makes it for those living in remote villages and for their families, so I decided to do something about it.

 

I talked with ORBIS, a 30-year-old UK-registered charity which is devoted to the elimination of avoidable blindness in developing countries and they told me about their new programme in the North-Western Province of Zambia where, by coincidence, I have spent quite a bit of time in the past. Together, we carved out a project-within-a-project, christened it the Zambezi Project, and I have undertaken to raise as high a proportion of its £50,000 per year (for three years) budget as I can.

 

My friends got me off to a good start with £10,000 and others have contributed since, so we know it’s appealing and considered worthwhile. We decided that it would be perfect for Rocksure Property (Advisers to the Funds) and Rocksure has now become a £5,000 Corporate Sponsor of the Project, so we are well on our way. 

I feel that, if I can play a part in saving or restoring the sight of just ONE human being, it would be the best thing I have ever done in my life, and I thought that some of you might feel the same way. The Zambezi Project offers the opportunity to save the sight of hundreds and hundreds of people who are already living in extreme poverty, so I am passionately committed to meeting the target.

 

I hope, therefore, that you and your family or your company might consider contributing to the Zambezi Project . Work on recruitment and training has already begun and the first Vision Centre has been opened in Solwezi.

ORBIS UK is a registered UK charity so all tax benefits apply, but there are three more special considerations which distinguish this donation from most others which we make: one is that I have agreed with ORBIS that 90% of all money donated will go directly to the Project without further deductions for administration or fundraising; second, since I am personally involved, I am party to the income and expenditure budgets and actuals and can make sure that all the money is being correctly spent; and next year, when we have raised the first £50,000, I intend to visit the Project (at my expense) and see the progress for myself. I shall, of course, report to you a couple of times a year.