Imagine life if you were unable to see. Could you find the toilet, or leave in an emergency? Now imagine you lived in a place where there are no paved roads, no clean water. In our world, 14 million people, more than the entire population of Canada, are blind, unable to perform the daily tasks of living. Ninety percent of the world's visually impaired live in low-income settings. Eighty-five percent of the blindness on our planet could be cured, or could have been prevented. 20 million people are needlessly blind from treatable cataracts.

Now imagine: There exists a surgery that can restore perfect sight to these people in five minutes, for the cost of $25 per surgery. Imagine: We can overcome all the needless blindness in the world. People say it's impossible.

Some of Dr. Tabin’s Highlights:

Dr. Tabin was also the fourth person to climb the Seven Summits
In 1994, Dr. Tabin established the Himalayan Cataract Project with his colleague Dr. Sanduk Rui
On an 8-day expedition to Ethiopia covered by National Geographic in 2009, Dr. Tabin and his team completed over 900 surgeries in just eight days
In 2009, Dr. Tabin was presented with Unsung Heroes of Compassion Award by Dalai Lama
He pioneered the first ascent of the final unclimbed face of Mount Everest, the challenging East Face, and also became the first ophthalmologist to summit Mount Everest.

LINKS

Recent Project in Ethiopia

Cure Blindness & Himalayan Cataract Project Website

Video - Ted Talk - Eradicating World Blindness - 16 minutes

Blind Corners Book

Wildland Firefighters and Zen - Jomon Martin, Zen Teacher