58 year-old Ramu is a resident of Valasapakala, a town in coastal Andhra Pradesh, India. She lives with her husband, Verraju, who is a farmer and earns $3 a day when he has work. Ramu has two daughters that are married and live with their families.

Ramu has developed cataracts in both eyes and has no money to pay for an operation. She attended the free eye screening camp hosted by the Sankurathri Foundation, and after a thorough eye examination, Sankurathri officials performed cataract surgeries on both her eyes. Afterwards, she found that she needed corrective spectacles to see well. Based on her economic condition and your donation, Raj, she received a pair of glasses free of charge from Sankurathri.

Thank you for helping Ramu to see better!

Appayamma is a 71 year-old widow from Gollaprolu, a village in Andhra Pradesh, Isha. She lives with her son’s family and up to last year was able to manage her own chores at home. She also helped her daughter-in-law with domestic work. Unfortunatley, her vision has slowly dissipated and she became very glum due to her inability to deal with her daily responsibilities.

Appayamma attended a free eye screening camp hosted by the Sankurathri Foundation in Pithapuram, where she received a thorough eye examination. It was found that she had cataracts in both eyes and received reparative surgery free of charge. Afterwards, she found she still needed corrective spectacles to see well. Based on her economic condition and your generous donation, Raj, the Sankurathri Foundation provided her with a pair of spectacles.

Thank you for helping Appayamma to see well.

Mangayamma is a 75 year-old widow living in the village of Pithapuram in Andhra Pradesh, India. Her husband, Suranna, died four years ago and her two sons are married and living with their families. Mangayamma finds daily work to make her living and earns about $2 a day. A few months ago, she became depressed because she began to lose vision in her both eyes and could not go to work. She also had no money for a medical checkup.

At that time, she learned about the Sankurathri Foundation and visited their site, where she received a complete eye checkup and glasses free of charge. Thank you for your kindness, Raj. With your help, Mangayamma can look after herself now and live with dignity in her old age.

Amrutha is eight years old and lives with her father, Akshaya, in the East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh, India. Her father works for an oil refining company and earns about $45 per month, which is barely sufficient to feed his whole family..

Under such circumstances, education is never a priority. Many boys and girls in rural areas such as this become child laborers to help supplement the family’s income. Unfortunately, this leads many to drop out of school. Sarada Vidyalayam, a school run by the Sankurathri Foundation in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, India, helps such children complete their education without any financial burden on their parents. The school provides not only free education, but also provides free books, uniforms, school bags, a pair of sandals, transportation, nutritious lunch, milk, medical check ups, and medicine to all the children. The school maintains a very strict curriculum, provides quality education and imparts good discipline and values to groom them as good citizens.

Most of the rural children at Sarada are undernourished and underweight. As they don’t eat nutritious meals at home, the Sankurathri Foundation provides them with lunch and milk at school. These meals make a huge difference — despite her poverty-stricken circumstances at home, Amrutha is a very happy child.

With your assistance, Prasad, Deborah, Katie, Jennifer, and Laura, the Sankurathri Foundation can provide lunches to Amrutha. Thank you for your kindness.

Sruthi Jyothi is nine year old third grader at Sarada Vidyalayam, a school run by the Sankurathri Foundation in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, India. Her father, Kumar, is a painter from the village of Kothuru, which is located in the outskirts of Kakinada. He earns about $40 a month when he can find the work. Due to his unstable job status, Kumar’s four children need external support for proper education and development.

Under such circumstances, education is never a priority. Many boys and girls in rural areas such as this become child laborers to help supplement the family’s income. Unfortunately, this leads many to drop out of school. Sarada Vidyalayam is helping such children complete their education without any financial burden to their parents. The school provides not only free education, but also provides free books, uniforms, school bags, a pair of sandals, transportation, nutritious lunch, milk, medical check ups, and medicine to all the children. The school maintains a very strict curriculum, provides quality education and imparts good discipline and values to groom them as good citizens.

Thank you, Moyet and Michael, for helping Sruthi Jyothi. She can finally receive the education she deserves.

Cataract blindness is very common among poor people living in rural areas of India. Due to widespread poverty and a complete absence of ophthalmologists in rural areas, several thousands of poor people go blind and remain blind even though this is a treatable condition. To help such people, the Sankurathri Foundation has designed a community outreach program in which they take eye care to the door steps of the needy and poor in rural and remote areas.

Under this program, their medical team visits a location and conducts free eye examinations for all that show up. They advise those suffering from cataracts to undergo surgery, and if the patients are willing, Sankurathri provides same-day transportation to the base hospital for surgery. Preoperative testing, food, accommodation, medicine during surgery, intraocular lenses (lenses implanted in the eye), post operative medications, and transportation back to the village are free of cost to the patient. In addition, they also provide transportation to the two postoperative visits.

Manikyam is a 68 year old widow living in the village of Bhavaram in Andhra Pradesh, India. Her husband died four years ago ­- leaving Manikyam with her three sons and two daughters. She currently lives with her son, who is working as a carpenter. She developed a cataract in her left eye and began to struggle with everyday tasks. Frustrated, she began to seek help to correct her condition.

Manikyam attended a free eye screening camp hosted by the Sankurathri Foundation in the town of Velangi. She qualified for cataract surgery, and through your generous donation Harini, she received it free of charge.

Thank you for your kindness. Manikyam can live independently again.

Cataract blindness is very common among poor people living in rural areas of India. Due to widespread poverty and a complete absence of ophthalmologists in rural areas, several thousands of poor people go blind and remain blind even though this is a treatable condition. To help such people, the Sankurathri Foundation has designed a community outreach program in which they take eye care to the door steps of the needy and poor in rural and remote areas.

Under this program, their medical team visits a location and conducts free eye examinations for all that show up. They advise those suffering from cataracts to undergo surgery, and if the patients are willing, Sankurathri provides same-day transportation to the base hospital for surgery. Preoperative testing, food, accommodation, medicine during surgery, intraocular lenses (lenses implanted in the eye), post operative medications, and transportation back to the village are free of cost to the patient. In addition, they also provide transportation to the two postoperative visits.

Lakshmi is a 60 year old widow living in the village of Kondayyapalem in Andhra Pradesh, India. Her husband died 10 years ago in a road accident. Her elder son also died in a fire. She is currently living with her second son who works as a carpenter. Lakshmi developed cataracts in both her eyes and found it difficult to manage her own needs. Under such conditions, she became a burden to her son and daughter in law.

She attended a free eye screening camp in Kondayyapalem hosted by the Sankurathri Foundation and was chosen to receive free procedures to resolve her cataracts. Due to your generous donation, Julian, Lakshmi received this care free of charge.

Thank you for your kindness.

Chakram is 70 years old and lives alone in the coastal region of Andhra Pradesh, India. She is a widow with four children that no longer live with her. Chakram works as a daily laborer and earns about one dollar per day. Recently, Chakram’s vision has deteriorated to a point that she can no longer work. Because of her poor economic state, Chakram cannot afford a medical checkup or prescription glasses that would allow her to continue work.

Chakram attended Sankurathri’s eye screening camp in a nearby village. Sankurathri provides quality eye care for impoverished Indians like Chakram. Thanks to your support, Vivek, the organization was able to provide Chakram with corrective glasses so she can continue to support herself.

Without your help, Chakram would become a burden to her children as she would not be able to afford food. Already, Chakram lives in extreme poverty, but with your help she lives happily knowing she can work to support herself. Thank you, again, Vivek, for supporting Chakram and Sankurathri.

Mangayamma is a widow living in Vakada, India. She is 65 years old and has two sons and two daughters that no longer live with her. Mangayamma works as a laborer for minimal wages. However, she developed a severe cataract in her right eye that prevented her from working.

Mangayamma attended Sankurathri’s free clinic in a nearby village where she received an eye examination. Sankurathri provides eye checkups and cataract surgeries for Indians like Mangayamma to help prevent curable health problems. Sankurathri believes that everyone should have equal rights to health benefits and recognizes the extreme lack of this in India.

Thanks to your donations, Harini, Mangayamma will not be hindered by her poor vision any longer. She can continue to work and support herself. Without the surgery, Mangayamma would not be able to afford basic necessities and maintain her health.

Thank you again, Harini, for your generous donation to Sankurathri and Mangayamma’s vision.

Ramulamma is an 85 year old widow living with her daughter in the village Gudarigunta in Kakinada, India. Her husband died 25 years ago from health problems, leaving her with minimal support. Ramulamma was blind in both eyes due to cataracts. She found it difficult to support herself because of her loss of vision. Under such conditions she became a burden to her daughter and became very depressed.

Due to Ramulamma’s poor economic standing, she could not afford to pay for a cataract surgery. When she attended Sankurathri’s free eye screening camp, they brought her to their hospital for cataract operations. Cataract blindness is extremely common among rural areas of India. Sadly, there are no ophthalmologists in these regions except those provided through community outreach programs like Sankurathri’s.

Sankurathri provided Ramulamma with cataract operations in both eyes thanks to your donation, Harini. Now, her daughter has less responsibility to take care of her mother and Ramulamma can live independently again. Thank you, Harini, for this life changing gift that betters not only Ramulamma’s life, but also her daughter’s.