What’s NEW – Grace Vision

October 2025

Zimvo and Nophuza’s Journey to Sight

In the remote hills of the Eastern Cape, two six-year-olds lived in a world of shadows.

Zimvo Futhani and Nophuza Nkoliso were both born with cataracts, facing a life where every sunrise looked the same, blurred and dim.

But that all changed.

Thanks to the incredible partnership between Grace Vision, CURE Day Hospital Foreshore, Dr. Claire Kennedy, Right to Sight Trust, Alcon, Blind Loyalty, HCI Foundation, Zenzele NPC, and Adcock Ingram, these two children were given the chance to see the world for the first time.

Their journey, from rural classrooms to the bright lights of the surgical theatre, is one of courage, compassion, and community.

Watch their story unfold in “Zimvo and Nophuza’s Journey to Sight.”

Two children. Two families. One journey, from darkness to light.

September 2025

Imibongo, Onikileyo, and Unako

Grace Vision Provides Second Set of Glasses for Triplets

KSD District, Eastern Cape – Three sisters from a rural village in the King Sabata Dalindyebo district have received their second set of free prescription glasses through Grace Vision’s school eye-care program.

The triplets – Imibongo, Onikileyo, and Unako – were first diagnosed with vision problems over two years ago during a routine school screening. At that time, they were issued their initial pairs of glasses. Recent follow-up screenings showed that all three have specialized needs, requiring updated prescriptions and lenses carefully tailored to their eyesight.

To ensure the girls received the support they needed without delay, Grace Vision made a special trip to their home village to personally deliver the new glasses. The updated lenses will enable the children to continue their education with clarity and confidence.

The sisters are raised by their grandmother, who manages the household and farms the land to provide for the family, with additional support from an aunt working in the city. On the day of Grace Vision’s visit, their grandmother was preparing fields for a potato crop – a reflection of the hard work and resilience that sustains many rural families in the Eastern Cape.

Grace Vision’s ongoing care highlights the importance of continuity in rural eye health services. By rescreening children and addressing their evolving needs, the organization ensures that children like Imibongo, Onikileyo, and Unako are supported beyond a first diagnosis, giving them the long-term opportunity to learn and thrive.

August 2025

Sitofile Bukelwa

Sitofile Bukelwa – Grace Vision’s 300th cataract surgery patient in 2025

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we’ve been able to restore sight to hundreds of people across rural Eastern Cape—people like Sitofile, who’ve lived in darkness for far too long.

This isn’t just a number.

It’s a mother seeing her children again.

A grandmother finding her way home.

A life restored.

Thank you to everyone who makes this work possible.

Please consider supporting our work.

July 2025

Nomawethu Mbangwa. 44yrs

A mother of four, who until recently, hadn’t seen her children’s faces in over six months.

Her vision began to fade in 2021 but by 2024, she had gone completely blind in both eyes.

“I can’t see a single thing,” she said. “Not even my kids.”

Life became incredibly difficult.

One day, while trying to boil water to bathe her youngest child, she accidentally burned her leg and foot.

Her children, some still very young, had to take over the cooking and daily responsibilities.

“I’m at home all day, but I can’t help them. I don’t even know what I’m eating—whether it’s clean, or if there are flies in it. I can’t see.”

The stress became overwhelming.

“I can’t sleep. I just miss seeing my babies. I miss knowing how much they’ve grown.”

But hope came during our Mandela Day Surgical Campaign.

Nomawethu became the 67th patient to receive free life changing cataract surgery.

A symbolically gesture honoring 67 years of Mandela’s service with 67 lives changed.

Her case was especially meaningful.

Her sister and brother-in-law also received sight-restoring surgeries through Grace Vision—three members of one family, all affected by cataracts.

A powerful reminder of just how widespread preventable blindness is in the rural Eastern Cape.

“I’m so excited,” she said before the operation. “I just want to see my babies again. I’m praying everything goes well. I’m trusting that my sugar levels stay stable.”

For Nomawethu, this wasn’t just a procedure.

It was a turning point.

A second chance to live fully, love deeply, and see the faces she cherishes most.

This Mandela Day, we didn’t just give 67 minutes. We gave 67 people back their sight.

People like Nomawethu.

Grace Vision restoring sight, restoring dignity.

June 2025

Babalo Mhlaba

Babalo Mhlaba was a young girl in Grade 7 when the Grace Vision Rural Schools Outreach team first met her. Struggling with significant visual impairment, she faced daily challenges that dimmed her potential. After being screened, treated, and fitted with prescription glasses, everything changed.

Today, Babalo is thriving in high school. On a recent follow-up visit to our mobile clinic, she was almost unrecognizable radiating confidence, her smile lighting up the room. She now dreams of pursuing further studies and becoming a leader in her community.

All it took was a simple pair of glasses to unlock her vision and her future.

May 2025

Boso Cikizwa Virginia, 62

Boso Cikizwa Virginia, comes from a quiet home, filled with the smells of home-cooked meals and the steady, reassuring presence of her husband’s care and support.
It’s a place once alive with her touch, where she tended her garden, prepared meals with love, and moved through each day with confidence and grace.

But for two long years, that light in her life began to fade.

Her world slowly dimmed as blindness crept in, until one day, her sight disappeared completely. Just as she was learning to live in the dark, another devastating blow came—she was diagnosed with cancer.

“For me, it wasn’t just hard,” Boso shared softly. “It felt like life was over.”

The days became heavy. Tears came often. Depression settled in, and there were moments when she felt she couldn’t go on.
“I saw no reason to live,” she admitted. “I was angry all the time. I wanted to take my own life.”

Yet even in the silence, something held her. Her husband’s quiet strength, her faith, and a tiny flicker of hope.

That flicker grew the day Grace Vision arrived.

With cataract surgery, her sight was restored—but more than that, her spirit was revived.
“Now I want to live again,” she said with a smile. “I feel joy. I’m excited about tomorrow.”

She laughs now, thinking of her garden and her kitchen.
“I can’t wait to cook for my husband again,” she beams. “To plant things, to see the food grow.”

Boso doesn’t believe her survival was by chance.
“God knew where help would come from,” she said. “When I tried to end my life, He said no. He was waiting for Grace Vision.”

With deep gratitude, she adds, “May God keep you, Grace Vision, and all the doctors who helped me.”

Today, Boso’s life is bright again—restored by love, purpose, and the simple dignity of seeing clearly once more.

April 2025

Novumile Maliphale, 92

Novumile Maliphale has been blind for two years. She lives at home with her two daughters, who help her get around and take care of the house. They do so with love—but still, there are moments that remind Novumile just how deeply her blindness has changed her life.

She first realised her sight was failing while working in her garden. “I was harvesting potatoes,” she recalls, “but I kept missing them—leaving so many behind in the soil.” The neighbourhood children would come afterward to collect what she had missed.

But blindness affects more than just her garden—it’s found its way into family life too.

“When one of the grandchildren is naughty,” she laughs, “I sometimes end up scolding or even swatting the wrong one—because I can’t see who’s who.”
She shakes her head and smiles, “My poor children.”

There’s humour in her words, but also a quiet ache. Because not being able to see has taken away more than just her sight—it’s taken her confidence, her independence, and the comfort of knowing her world by her own eyes.

But that’s beginning to change.

Thanks to Grace Vision—and the generosity of its donors—Novumile Maliphale is being given the gift of restored sight.

She looks forward to tending her garden with sure hands, seeing the faces of her grandchildren clearly, and maybe even catching the right one next time they act up.

The restoration of her sight means a restoration of freedom, of joy, and of dignity.
Because of Grace Vision, and those who support its mission, Novumile’s life is being touched by light again—one moment, one smile, one step at a time.

March 2025

Nancy Nonkari, 82yrs.

Nancy Nonkari is an 82-year-old woman.

For the past two years, she has lived in darkness. Blindness slowly closed in on her world until the walls of her home—once familiar—became uncertain, even dangerous.

Nancy lives alone. She used to have someone to help her in the house, but with her only income being a modest pension, she could no longer afford the help. Now, she is completely on her own.

The days are long and quiet. She often wonders what her home looks like—how clean it is, what she’s missing. But she cannot know. “I don’t even know how dirty my house is,” she says softly. “I just sit here… not knowing.”

Cooking is one of the hardest things. The fear of burning herself keeps her from using the stove. Some nights, she goes to bed with an empty stomach. Once, she even collapsed from hunger.

But Nancy has held on—to faith, to patience, to the hope that life might change.

And now, thanks to Grace Vision—and the generosity of its donors—Nancy Nonkari has been given the opportunity to see again.

This restoration of sight means more than vision—it means safety, dignity, and independence. It means she can cook for herself without fear. She can clean her home. She can take back her life, one step at a time.

“I’m looking forward to being able to see again,” she says, her voice filled with quiet hope.

Because of Grace Vision, and those who give so selflessly to its mission, Nancy’s story is turning from isolation into empowerment. Sight has been restored—and so has her sense of self.

February 2025

Congress Mxhaka 92yrs.

For most of his life, his hands have known the texture of soil, the shape of growing things. He took pride in his garden—especially his fruit trees. Every morning, he would step outside, trim the branches just so, water the roots, and speak softly to each tree. It was his way of caring, of being present, of living fully.

But then, the light left him.

A year ago, Congress Mxhaka lost his sight. And with it, the rhythm of his life changed. He began to stumble into holes he couldn’t see, fall where once he walked with ease. The simple things—picking fruit, checking the leaves, working in the sun—became memories.
“There are things a man must do for himself,” he says. “And I can’t do them anymore.”

He now only hears from his family that his trees are not what they used to be. Overgrown. Untended. Quiet.

But Congress Mxhaka has not lost hope.

Today, he smiles for the first time in a long while. Thanks to Grace Vision—and the generosity of its donors—Congress Mxhaka has been given the chance to see again. With his sight restored, he’s ready to return to the garden, to walk without fear, and to care once more for the things that bring him joy.

“I’m looking forward to doing things for myself again,” he says gently.

And in that one sentence… lives the strength of a man, and the quiet dignity of a life that’s not yet done growing.

January 2025

Nyandu Iris Nofezekile, 77

Nyandu Iris Nofezekile is 77 years old.

For the past year, she has been bilaterally blind—unable to see from either eye. And while she still lives in her own home, she is not alone in this journey. Her daughter, now with a family of her own, walks an hour each way every day—just to care for her.

“I had to make sure she was safe,” her daughter says. “That she had eaten. That she was okay.”

Though her mother is blind, she refuses to leave the home she’s built over the years. It holds her memories, her independence—her sense of self. So, her daughter walks. Every day. Through sun, through rain, through exhaustion. She cooks for her mother, checks in on her, and does all she can to fill in the gaps left by her mother’s fading vision.

But it hasn’t been easy.

“There are days I’m tired,” she admits. “But I do it because I love her. Still… I’m looking forward to the day she can see again. Because I’ll get my freedom back, too.”

This story is about more than one woman. It’s about a bond between generations. About dignity, duty, and quiet endurance.

Thanks to Grace Vision—and the generosity of its donors—Nyandu Iris Nofezekile is being given the chance to regain her sight.

And with it, her daughter will finally be able to rest, knowing her mother can once again see her own way around the home she loves.

The restoration of sight is not just a gift to one—it’s a gift to the whole family.
Because of Grace Vision, and those who continue to give so selflessly, two lives are being changed. Light is returning—not just to eyes, but to hearts, homes, and futures.

Nokhuba Dabulamanzi, 69

Nokhuba Dabulamanzi is 69 years old.

His vision began to fade four years ago. At first, it was small things—shadows blurring where there should be light, faces becoming outlines. Two years ago, the darkness became complete. Since then, Nokhuba has spent most of his time at home, learning to live without sight.

Once, he was the head of his household. The provider. The one who fixed things, made decisions, held the family steady. Now, all of that is done by his wife and children.

“I feel like a burden sometimes,” he admits. “There are things I should be doing. But I can’t.”

The helplessness weighs on him. But despite it, there’s gratitude too.

“I’m very lucky,” he says softly. “I have someone who helps me. I’m not alone.”

It’s a quiet kind of strength—accepting the care of others while still longing to give. Nokhuba hasn’t given up. He’s held onto hope.

And now, thanks to Grace Vision—and the generosity of its donors—Nokhuba Dabulamanzi is being given the opportunity to regain his sight.

This is more than a medical intervention. It’s the chance for a father and husband to feel like the head of his household once again—to return not just to seeing, but to doing.

Because of Grace Vision, and those who continue to support its mission, Nokhuba’s dignity is being restored.
Light is returning. And with it, the chance to stand tall once more.

info@gracevision.org.za