ASCRS News: ASCRS Annual Meeting preview
April 2023

by Michael Colvard, MD

The ASCRS Foundation is proud to announce that Helena Ndume, MD, is the recipient of the 2023 ASCRS Foundation Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award. The Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award is endowed by a generous gift from David and Victoria Chang to celebrate and honor outstanding humanitarian work with an emphasis on cataract blindness and disability. 

Helena came into the world during a time of widespread political unrest. It was the early 1960s, and colonized nations across all of Africa were beginning their struggles for independence. She was born in northern Namibia and lived with her parents in a small house in a segregated area of her village designated for Black residents. 

While still in junior high school, Helena became actively involved in student protests against colonial occupation, apartheid, and the racially determined educational inequities of her country. Hundreds of protesting students had been rounded up and imprisoned. As an active member of the student resistance, her arrest was imminent. At age 15, Helena had a painful conversation with her parents. She explained that she had only two choices. Leave her home and escape to Angola in hopes of becoming part of the independence movement or face certain imprisonment. Her parents were saddened but supportive of her efforts.

“Helena’s unwavering commitment to the poor and underserved is a constant inspiration to everyone who has had the honor of working with her. Her example helps remind us what a wonderful gift we have been given as eye surgeons and why we must share this precious gift with those most in need.” 

Michael Colvard, MD

Helena left home with three other friends and headed north. Traveling without a passport, she walked and took public buses and eventually sneaked past border guards to enter Angola on foot. A violent civil war was raging in Angola. Although she was no longer in danger of being arrested, travel was extremely hazardous and the conditions dangerous, especially for young women. Under the protection of the SWAPO Liberation movement, the majority of Namibian refugees were now being sheltered in a refugee camp in Zambia. With the help and protection of her SWAPO colleagues, traveling by “liberation” trucks and on foot, she was able to cross into Zambia.

Helena discovered in her new home a welcoming community. Among the most
important features of SWAPO was desire to foster solidarity, unity, and equality. In the refugee settlements, women were placed in positions of power, and the health, education, and welfare of all citizens became prominent cornerstones of this new government in absentia. Children’s education was seen as a top priority. Under the direction of adults, new school buildings were constructed by the students. Namibian teachers from around the world were recruited to the camp to teach the future leaders of an independent Namibia. 

Helena excelled in the school and soon came to the attention of one of the female leaders of SWAPO, Dr. Libertina Amathila, fondly called “Auntie Lib.” Like a mother to many exiled children, Dr. Amathila saw the promise of Helena and mentored her. After completion of her high school education in Zambia and Gambia, with Auntie Lib’s encouragement, Helena applied to and won an East German-sponsored scholarship to medical school at the University of Leipzig. 

To determine her future specialization, Helena went to Auntie Lib for advice. Auntie Lib asked Helena to look down at her hands. “We have thousands of people in Namibia who are blinded by cataracts and have no one to help them to see again,” Auntie Lib said. “Those small hands can make the difference in the lives of thousands of poor patients who are desperate for the chance to see again and whose families need them. They need your hands to help them see again.” Helena applied for a residency in ophthalmology and returned to East Germany where she did her training at the University of Saarland. Anxious to learn the basics of running an eye camp for the poor, Helena elected to do her field studies in Tamil Nadu, India, where she for the first time became part of an eye surgery outreach program. 

“[Dr. Ndume] is an inspiration to all ophthalmologists, and her success has inspired thousands of girls and women to dream big and to not let adversity steal their dreams.”

Susan MacDonald, MD

After completion of her training, Helena was anxious to begin her work in Namibia. At the advice of the highly respected Zimbabwean eye surgeon Dr. Solomon Guramatunhu, Helena attended the 1995 ASCRS Annual Meeting and visited the booth of Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE International). Dr. Guramatunhu introduced Helena to Dr. Harry Brown, founder of SEE International, and her career as an eye surgeon dedicated to serving the poor began. 

For the last 25 years, working with SEE International’s steadfast support, generous supply donations of Alcon Surgical, and the support of the Namibian government, she has led the Namibian Blindness Prevention Project, which has provided free sight restorative surgery to more than 55,000 patients blinded by cataracts. Through her efforts, the Namibian Blindness Prevention Project is now largely a self-sustaining organization, staffed by Helena and five other well-trained Namibian surgeons, and a committed group of SEE International volunteer surgeons from around the world. 

In acknowledgment of her years of work in the service of humanity, Helena has received numerous awards and accolades, including the inaugural Nelson Mandela Award, a prestigious honor conferred by the United Nations only once every 5 years. 

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Contact 

Colvard: dr.michaelcolvard@gmail.com