Running in Honor of My Mom
Vision is easy to take for granted–at least that’s true for me. I try to be intentional about recognizing the good in life and giving thanks, but so many things still escape notice. I’m glad I can see, but it was never any deeper than that.
Sight Impacting Life
While on a field supervisory visit for the Hilton Trachoma Elimination Project, I entered the hut of a 5 year-old boy named Nazifi Aminou who had been referred as an “unsaveable case” by the local Chief Medical Officer at one of the health posts in the district of Madarounfa (Tahoua Region, 550 km from Niamey). […]
“Just Because He Can’t See Doesn’t Mean He Can’t Think”
I carried out a field visit to observe first-hand the work that the Helen Keller Intl Niger staff had been conducting. One of our Niger offices is located in Zinder – a large town some 895 kilometers from Niamey, Niger’s capital. As I was checking into my hotel I spotted a young man sitting with […]
“A Creature With Many Legs”
John Palmer, former President of Helen Keller International What attracted me to Helen Keller International wasn’t so much blindness, but the agency’s approach to international development. I think the paradigm that this agency embraced of trying to provide the ingredients to strengthen local capacity to establish cutting-edge and high quality sustained programs is the right […]
100 Stories for 100 Years
Helen Keller International recently celebrated its Centennial Anniversary. In addition to a host of exciting commemorative events taking place in Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States, our global team members have taken on the challenge of sharing 100 stories about the important work that we do and the impact it is having on hundreds of […]
Making the Future Clearer
Selinee Gonzalez is a shy sixth grader who lives in Sunset Park, Brooklyn with her two sisters. She struggled to read notes on the board. “When I move to the front of the room, I can see better,” she said. But Selinee isn’t always able to sit in the front row which has caused her […]
Working to Combat Blindness from Diabetes in Bangladesh
382 million people worldwide have diabetes and 80% of them are living in the developing world, with blindness being just one of its potential threats.
Mr. Phong Finds a New Vision at Age 69
Ly Dinh Phong is an energetic 69 year old man living in a rural area outside Hanoi, Vietnam. In 1969, after studying electrical engineering in China and Russia, he returned to Vietnam to join the army. Mr. Phong’s wartime injuries were extensive enough to have him declared a war invalid. Despite this, not being one […]
Summiting Kilimanjaro to See the End of Neglected Tropical Diseases
A version of this blog originally appeared in the Huffington Post on June 11, 2015. I have never been one to shy away from a challenge. Whether taking the train into New York City by myself as a young teen to attend dance classes with Alvin Ailey, or deciding at the age of 40 to […]
From Sponsor Child to Country Office Veteran: My 27 Years with Helen Keller Intl
The world of NGOs has always been a big part of my life. I grew up in Bangladesh as a “sponsor child” of Save the Children USA, and went on to volunteer with them as a youth, where I did everything from help build ponds in the Brahminbaria district so that the villagers could get […]
