Aspenites capture stories, photos of Kenyans treated for blindness

Two Aspen residents didn’t realize “how profoundly it would affect us” right after doctors removed the bandages, they said.

Aspen photographer Michele Cardamone and Allison Daily, an executive director of an Aspen-based psychosocial support nonprofit called Pathfinders, were in Nyeri, Kenya, spending a week in February with the local populace as they underwent eye surgeries. 

“It’s indescribable to watch someone transform in front of you. From before to the after, everything about the person changed. When doctors removed the bandages, patients immediately became lighter. Happier. Joyful,” they said. “All of this because of a 15-minute surgery. We witnessed it and we’re still processing how something so simple can alter an entire family’s future.”

The surgeries were provided for free via partnership between global nonprofit the Cure Blindness Project and City Eye Hospital, which works with government entities to mobilize communities to attend eye screenings. Cure Blindness Project co-founder and renowned climber Dr. Geoff Tabin will be speaking at Aspen Public Library at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27.

Cardamone and Daily, capturing stories and photos highlighting City Eye Hospital’s efforts, accompanied Kenyan patients in their homes. They also documented them as they underwent surgery for severe conditions like cataracts.

“I was so impressed with how well organized the process was from screenings, to the eye hospital, to surgery and to recovery. The collaboration between Cure Blindness Project and the Nyeri City Eye Hospital was seamless and efficient and everyone involved seemed truly grateful and happy to be involved,” Daily said in a news release.

Along their journey, Cardamone and Daily met two Kenyans, Paul, 90, and Stevenson, 82. 

“(Paul) sat stoically in a chair on the family’s small concrete porch. He didn’t respond to questions. He didn’t engage. When I moved the family into the house for a photo where the lighting was better, Paul shuffled tentatively, gripping tightly to his son’s arm,” Cardamone said. “Paul’s family talked excitedly about what the surgery would mean to them as a family. Bilaterally blind, their father’s life consisted of sitting on the chair in the sun or resting on the couch inside the house. He needed help to eat, to go to the bathroom, to do anything.”

Both Paul and Stevenson went into surgery the same day, with Stevenson consoling a nervous Paul through the process. 

“When doctors removed Paul’s bandage, Stevenson’s face was one of the first ones he saw,” Cadamone and Daily said. “The two new friends danced and sang in celebration as hospital staff watched and smiled.”