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A Burkinabe woman kneels while tending to six goats.

2023 Year in Review: Forces for Good [Photo Essay]

By Helen Keller Intl |

Every day, members of the Helen Keller Intl community are choosing to be forces for good. Community health heroes, entrepreneurs, parents, youth, and Helen Keller staff work tirelessly to help improve health, nutrition, and vision for people in their communities, countries, and around the world. We’re highlighting some of the incredible contributions made by members of our community this year.

  • A Sierra Leonean nurse sits next to a mother holding a baby. The nurse points to a chart about complementary feeding.
    Nurse Aminata Conteh (left) and her colleagues are improving the health of mothers and children by providing counseling on reproductive health, hygiene, and breastfeeding, and essential care, including vitamin A and immunizations.
  • A teenager from Bangladesh shows off a gold medal hanging around her neck. She is standing outside with greenery behind her.
    A champion farmer at just 17 years old, Mollika Biswas is helping to increase her family’s crop yields and income and now shares her farming knowledge with the community as a peer leader.
  • A man sits across from a female health worker outside of a building. The man is writing in a notebook.
    Benoit Dembélé (left) helps Helen Keller’s teams across Africa ensure quality treatment to prevent and eliminate neglected tropical diseases. Benoit and his team worked alongside the Malian government and partners to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem.
  • A young boy holds up a pair of glasses. There is a tray with many different styles of glasses on the table in front of him.
    After noticing that kindergartener Prince was struggling in the classroom, P.S. 152 Director Whitney Arnold helped him receive a no-cost vision screening and glasses through Helen Keller. Thanks to his new glasses, Prince is now thriving in school.
  • A Burkinabe woman kneels while tending to rows of plants.
    Since building her farming skills, Kacoara Dahourou has started a business selling sweet potato cuttings, expanded her farm, improved her family’s income, and become a role model for other women entrepreneurs in her community.
  • A Nepalese man and two Nepalese women hold up signs about protecting parents and babies by keeping marketing out of healthcare facilities.
    Nisha Sharma (right) conducts research on breastfeeding practices, baby formula marketing, and other issues to improve public policy and enhance Helen Keller’s evidence-based support for mothers and infants.
  • Five young men from Sierra Leone hold up bags of bread and rolls.
    Thaimu Banugura (far left) learned how to incorporate vitamin A-rich sweet potatoes into his bread to improve its nutritional value. He has built a thriving business and now helps train other young bakers to use the same techniques.

Read their stories to learn more:

  1. Nurse Aminata Conteh and her colleagues improve the health of mothers and children.
  2. Mollika Biswas provides farming training to her community.
  3. Benoit Dembélé helps prevent and treat neglected tropical diseases.
  4.  Whitney Arnold helps kindergartener gain clear vision.
  5. Kacoara Dahourou inspires other women entrepreneurs.
  6. Nisha Sharma conducts research to improve public policy and programming for mothers and babies.
  7. Thaimu Banugura bakes nutritious bread and trains others to do the same.
Smiling mother holds her baby.

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