Give the Gift of Sight This Miracles Day – Thursday August 6th

This year 96five will continue our partnership with CBM for the annual Miracles Day campaign, giving you the chance to change someone’s life in a developing country.

Since then our teams have been hosted by CBM in developing countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines and Nepal.  We’ve seen first hand the difference CBM makes, not just to the person receiving the eye surgery, but also to their family and community.  The reality for anyone with a disability in a developing country is that they will suffer poverty, isolation and inequality.

The plan for Miracles Day this year was to travel with CBM to Indonesia.  Although the Indonesian economy has boomed over the last two decades becoming the biggest in South East Asia, the World Bank estimates that around 11% of the population still live in poverty.

Despite the economic boom, access to, and the quality of health care varies greatly.  For impoverished communities health care is almost non-existent, and for the over 1 million strong blind population, the work of CBM is of utmost importance.  Not only do they restore sight where possible, but they work to prevent blindness, help the disabled go to school, earn a living and secure respect in their communities.

Of course this year’s global pandemic has stopped this trip, but Miracles Day will still be going ahead on Thursday August 6th.  It’s your opportunity to give the miracle of sight, for less than a weeks’ worth of coffees!  You’ll also be hearing presenters such as Ken, Nicky and Steve reflect on some of their Miracles Day experiences from the last few years.

96five breakfast host Ken Green said that one of his most memorable moments was arriving at a field hospital, and meeting hundreds of people and their carers who had come for eye surgery.

“Around 500 patients have piled into this hospital, and many of them had walked for a week to get there.  Some of them had traveled through jungles and deserts, that’s how desperate these people were to get their sight back.”

How Does It Work?

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness around the world.  Although simple to treat, cataracts often lead to permanent vision loss for people living in poverty – who can’t access affordable eye-care and surgery.

Your opportunity is to give a miracle – $33 provides a simple 12-minute sight-saving surgery needed to restore sight. Since the first Miracles Day, Australians have given just under 200,000 miracles to the world’s poorest people.

Your support of Miracles Day this year will help CBM Australia fund urgently needed surgeries, plus cataract screening camps and school screening programs, in the most remote areas of Nepal, The Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Cameroon, Tanzania and Niger and Indonesia.

You can give the gift of sight saving surgery by donating to Miracles Day here.