UAE Helping Hands: Single mother is going blind and cannot afford surgery

A woman, whose husband died five years ago, fears she will not be able to care for her son if she cannot afford the surgery she needs to stop herself from going blind.

ABU DHABI // Haawo Abdullah from Somalia is losing her eyesight. The 39-year-old says that her eyes are so damaged she can see only light and nothing else.

“I can’t read or see anything around me. Only the light,” she says.

Mrs Abdulla has a detached retina and other complications. Her doctors have advised her to have immediate surgery.

“I can’t afford surgery,” she says. “They told me that I needed surgery for both eyes.”

Initially, the first operation would cost Dh25,000, which the mother of a seven-year-old boy says she cannot afford.

“I’m here on a visit visa to settle a few legal issues.

“I have no insurance and ­nowhere to stay here.”

Ms Abdulla’s husband, an Emirati, died five years ago.

“I never had the money to do the operation. I found out two years ago that my eyes were damaged, but I put it off because I had no money.

“I was unemployed and raising my son alone in Somalia.”

Mrs Haawo says she can no longer put it off.

“I’m going blind and I am scared.

“My son has no one but me now. How will I take care of him if I go blind? We have no one.

“I feel pain and water drips out of my eyes. I grateful that I can at least see the light, but doctors say that soon I will go completely blind. They advised me to approach charities for help.”

“Mrs Abdulla cannot afford the surgery,” says Hisham Al Zahrani, social services manager at Dar Al Ber.

“We have a copy of her medical reports and doctors have stressed the importance of having the operation as soon as possible. She was scheduled last month for surgery but didn’t have the funds to go forward with it.”

• To help Mrs Abdulla, call the hotline on 0502955999, or send a WhatsApp message to the same number. Donations can be made by ­depositing money in Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank account, Iban number AE9805 000 000 000 11530734 or Dubai Islamic Bank account, Iban number AE8002 4000 352 0443 1952 01.