people received eye health services.
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MACHO YANGU
MY EYES, IN SWAHILI
Macho Yangu is a school eye health programme in Tanzania, running across the Morogoro, Singida and Dodoma regions.
Its goal is to strengthen and promote sustainable, high quality, inclusive eye health and refractive error services for people with and without disabilities.
Speckles is one of several organisations contributing towards it.
The work is much bigger than us. We are proud to play our part in it.
Why schools
Children are already at school. They are there every day, learning, playing and getting on with being kids.
That makes school one of the most practical places in the world to find a child who cannot see the board, and to do something about it.
A child who cannot see clearly does not usually say so. They do not have anything to compare their sight to. What shows instead is a headache, a struggle with reading, a seat moved closer to the front, or a child who stops putting their hand up.
Macho Yangu trains the adults around those children to notice, and it connects the children who need help to the eye health services that can give it.
© SIGHTSAVERS/JASON MULIKITA
What the programme has done so far
Sightsavers reports these results from across the whole Macho Yangu programme, covering April 2023 to September 2024. They reflect the work of Sightsavers and its partners, with support from several contributing organisations.
For us at Speckles, it is a privilege to contribute towards a programme helping strengthen access to eye health services for children and communities in Tanzania.
people received cataract surgery.
pairs of glasses were provided.
© SIGHTSAVERS/JASON MULIKITAThe programme also procured medical consumables and ophthalmic equipment to support the sustainability of eye care services in the Dodoma region.
people received sight tests.
People trained
primary school teachers
primary health workers, strengthening the referral system between primary and secondary health facilities
Disability Committees, to advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities
health practitioners and managers in Dodoma, on identifying challenges related to water, energy efficiency and hazardous waste in healthcare settings, as part of the project's work on climate change in the health sector
social welfare officers and an eye care staff, on patient counselling
cataract surgeons
© SIGHTSAVERS/JASON MULIKITA
That last group of numbers is the part we find hardest to look away from.
Two surgeons. One hundred and eighty eight teachers. Thirty one managers learning about waste and water.
None of that is a single moment of help. It is the steady commitment of working with local experts and partners long after any one donation has been spent.
Rudia, Ebenzeri and Joseph
In Tanzania, many families like Rudia’s live long distances from hospitals and struggle to access vital health care.
© SIGHTSAVERS/JASON MULIKITARudia and her husband live with their daughter, Ebenzeri, and two nephews, Joseph and Ezekiel. After noticing they were all suffering with eye problems, her dedication to her family helped change their lives.
Both of her nephews and her daughter had cataracts. Rudia was especially worried about Joseph, who was 10 years old and had stopped going to school.
Rudia wanted to do everything she could to help give them a chance of a brighter future.
Here’s her powerful story in her own words.
© SIGHTSAVERS/JASON MULIKITA“Joseph told me he couldn’t be happy or play when he was at school, which is why he stopped going. He said he felt different because of his poor eyesight and when he tried to join in with his friends, he struggled to keep up. I worried about how lonely and shy he was.
“I said to my husband that even if Joseph has eye problems, going back to school will help him gain confidence and feel good. I have taken over responsibility for Joseph and Ezekiel’s schooling. Ezekiel has been held back four years because of his eyesight and is still at school. I help Ezekiel by providing him with exercise books, uniform and other school requirements.
“In the sunlight, he would squint his eyes and look down. Joseph had suffered like this his whole life.”
Rudia, Joseph’s aunt
© SIGHTSAVERS/JASON MULIKITA“Education is the most important thing and that’s why I took Joseph to the hospital.
“I took my daughter Ebenzeri as well because I thought there was a chance she might have eye problems too. I didn’t want her to go through what her older cousins have had to face.
“At the hospital we met Dr Noel Nalogwa, who told me Joseph and Ebenzeri had cataracts. As they were gentle, he invited our home to check Ezekiel’s eyes too.
“They all needed to go to a specialist hospital that was far away, and we needed help to get there.
Rudia
“The doctor referred us to Sightsavers, who brought us all to the hospital so that all three of them could have operations on the same day.
“During the surgeries, I didn’t eat at all, I was so worried. I worried and worried until I started to cry.
“But then the doctors told me all was well and the operations were a success.”
© SIGHTSAVERS/JASON MULIKITA“When we came back home, there were people who kept congratulating me on a job well done. They said, ‘It may appear small, but you have done a great thing.’ Joseph and Ezekiel told me, ‘Auntie, we rely on you.’ They love me and I help them wherever I can.
“I would like to plead that your kindness should not start and end with us, because every environment, every society has children with these eye problems. I urge that when and if you meet such children, please hold their hands and walk with them like you did with us.”
What this has to do with a small Australian eye care brand
We think about children’s eyes every day. It is our whole job.
For most Speckles families, noticing something about a child’s eyes means there is a next step. An appointment can be booked. A question can be asked. Somebody trained can take a closer look. There may still be worry and waiting, but there is a pathway.
Rudia had the same instinct that every parent we talk to has. She noticed, and she acted. The difference was the distance between her and the help.
That is the gap Macho Yangu exists to close, and it is why our support goes there.
© SIGHTSAVERS/JASON MULIKITA
In the Speckles world, this is the Kind Friend
The Kind Friend is one of the six characters in the Speckles world. They are the one who notices when somebody else might need a little support. Not for the attention. Because caring about someone means noticing them.
We spend a lot of time telling children that kindness matters.
We would like the way we build Speckles to show them the same thing.
Where to read more
Macho Yangu is Sightsavers' programme, and
Sightsavers is the right place to read about it in full.
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