“Now I know what a gift sight is”

“On the first day of the surgery I was very happy. I was excited – I ran into the operating theatre. Then I got on to the bed, and they put [anaesthetic] on my mouth and nose, then I lost my sense. I got afraid of that, and on the day of the second surgery, I was afraid to go in. I said I don’t need the surgery. [They gave the anaesthetic again] then I don’t know what happened until I got my senses back.

“On the first day, Joanna Lumley [a British actress who was visiting one of Sightsavers’ programmes in Bangladesh in 2005, and who Arif refers to as ‘aunty’] was there to remove my bandage. I was very happy to see her. As I liked cars, she got a lot of toy cars on my hospital bed.

“I started playing with the cars. Usually, it hurts when the bandage is removed – but I was so busy playing with the car that I didn’t feel the pain!

“First, I saw Joanna aunty, then I saw my mother and father. I was very happy. After getting back home, there were no problems in my study and no problem playing. After [my operation], I heard that my grandmother [a female relative Arif refers to as ‘grandmother’] also had eye surgery. And my grandfather went there [to the hospital] and the doctor checked his eyes and took him to Narsingdi for surgery.

“[As I grew older], after studying for a while I dropped out. My parents tried to keep me studying, but I lost my interest. My dream was to drive cars. Then I went to Dhaka and thought, what job should I do? And then I chose driving.

“My parents did not want me to be a driver; they said this is not safe. I told them OK, I will not drive, but inside me, I wanted to be a driver, nothing else. [Eventually] I told my mother and father and my uncle that I want to learn driving. They agreed and then I learned how to drive. I’ve been working as a driver for the last five years.

“My future plan is to go abroad. To [meet the requirements to] go abroad, I had a medical examination, but my right eye result came out unfit, so I’m facing difficulties. If I can’t go abroad, I’ll look for a good job. If I get a job in a company and if I can save some money, I can buy a car to rent out and will go back home.”

“I didn’t understand as a child, but now I understand what a gift sight is. You cannot ignore the eyes, because eyes are priceless.”

All images © Sightsavers/Reza Shahriar Rahman