Looking for a Miracle?

Restore sight for just $25. We call that a miracle. And you can make a Miracle happen today by giving a Fred Hollows Foundation Miracle of Sight card.

Your donation will help fund a 20-minute cataract operation to restore someone's sight.  And, like all good miracles, your gift will change someone's life forever.

Your friends or family will receive a beautiful card telling the story of just one of the people who can see again thanks to you.

To make things really easy, we can send the Miracle of Sight directly to your friend or family with your personal message or, if you would like to personally deliver your life-changing gift, we can send it to you.

Give a Miracle today and help restore sight to the thousands of needlessly blind people in the Pacific.

Ordering your Miracle of Sight cards is easy.

1.  Select your card design(s)  

2.   Personalise your card(s)

3.   Pay for your card(s)

The Miracle of Sight cards can also be personalised for a birthday, anniversary, thank you, or any other special occasion.

A great gift idea for family, friends, staff, clients, or suppliers

Purchase online: Purchase a Miracle of Sight online today using your credit card

Purchase by mail, phone or fax: Download a Miracle of Sight order form and post it with your cheque or money order to:

Freepost Hollows, Private Bag 99909, Newmarket, Auckland 1149

Fax: 09-379 7179

Or call us on 0800 227 229 to order over the phone with your credit card. 

Please allow 5 working days for delivery.

Fred Hollows was an eye doctor who believed everyone has the right to treatment, no matter where they lived. Although he has often been identified as an Australian, Fred was a good Kiwi bloke, born in Dunedin and raised in Palmerston North.

Fred was outraged that four out of five people are blind simply because they lack access to eye care services, and devoted his life to increasing access to eye care services in developing countries. Today, it is estimated that more than a million people can see again as a direct result of his work. 

Fred’s greatest legacy, though, was reducing the cost of intraocular lens used in cataract surgery. He established two laboratories in Nepal and Eritrea which have now produced more than four million lenses.

The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ continues his philosophy of “giving a hand up not a hand-out" by training local people throughout the Pacific in the eye-care skills they to need to help themselves.

Senmily Nona was just 55 when she began to go blind from cataracts. Her village on West Fergusson Island in Papua New Guinea was far from any eye clinics, so no treatment was available.

As her eyesight worsened, Senmily became depressed that she couldn't care for herself or her seven children. Instead, her five-year-old grand-daughter Alma had to visit daily to feed and wash her.

When Senmily heard that a Fred Hollows Foundation NZ outreach was visiting Alotau, she knew it was her one chance to see again. The whole family helped pay for the long boat trip to reach the clinic.

After surgery, Senmily waited excitedly while her eye patch was removed. At first she gazed around silently, then grinned at everyone near her . She could see!

"The first thing I will do when I get home is to give all my grandchildren a cuddle, especially Alma," she said.

Deonisia had been completely blind from cataracts for nine years. Her village, on the island of Ovalau in Fiji, was far from any eye clinics, so no treatment was available.

Before she lost her sight, Deonisia was full of life. Her house was always filled with the laughter of her numerous grandchildren, whom she looked after while their parents were at work. But blindness changed all that. Deonisia spent her days sitting in darkness, devastated because she could no longer look after her grandchildren or watch them grow.

But then a Fred Hollows Foundation surgical team visited Deonisia's island and Deonisia knew that this was her chance to see again. When her eye-patch was removed after surgery, she shouted with tears pouring down her cheeks. She ecstatically kissed her niece, a child when Deonisia went blind but now a grown woman. "It's so bright, it's a new world! I'm so happy," Deonisia exclaimed.

Returning to her village, she marvelled at how much her grandchildren had grown, only recognising some by the sound of their voice. "This is the happiest day," Deonisia said. Thank you, thank you."

Bras Pati lives simply on a smallholding on the island of Vanua Levu in Fiji. With her husband, she raises livestock and grows crops for food and to sell.

Although a shy, quiet woman, Bras took pride in her independence and worked hard caring for her family and tending her farm. But as cataracts developed in her eyes she lost her sight and her independence.

For eight years she struggled to continue her role, but life became harder as she gradually lost her ability to cook, look after her animals or even to feed herself. She felt terribly ashamed and helpless. And then she suffered a heavy blow - her husband Dhujai also began to go blind from cataracts. They feared they would lose their farm if they couldn't cope, but they couldn't afford to travel to the nearest eye clinic, which was many hours travel away on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu.

Hope came when a Fred Hollows Foundation team visited the local hospital, only an hour away. After surgery restored both their sight, Bras couldn't wait to get home and see her grandchildren for the first time in many years. Soon she was back at work, preparing a meal for her family and tending her livestock.

"Now I have my eyes back I can be useful again," she said with a smile.

Henry Heeu only had a little sight left in his left eye when local nurses diagnosed cataracts during a screening visit to his village.  They told him that a special boat would come to take all the patients to a clinic in Kirakira, where his sight would be restored.

At the clinic, Henry was examined by Dr Claude Posala, a Fred Hollows Foundation NZ trained eye surgeon, who warned him that because of the complexity of his condition, the surgery might only result in slightly better vision.

The day after the surgery, Claude examined Henry carefully and was thrilled that the result was even better than he dared hope and would continue to improve. Henry was delighted and could not wait to get home to his family, especially to see his grand-daughter Jenny and be able to work in his garden again.

This card is currently out of stock. 

Olinda Guterres was 70 years old when she went blind with cataracts and was completely reliant on her family for daily care.  With no facilities available in Timor-Leste for Olinda’s cataract surgery, her future was bleak.

But with the help of the NZ Defence Force The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ established a full-time surgical theatre – in a converted shipping container.  This Kiwi innovation is now a safe, clean and functional operating theatre which will treble the number of cataract operations in Timor-Leste as we work to complete an eye clinic.

Olinda was our first patient to have her sight restored in our new container operating theatre.  Now she is once again working in her vegetable garden, basket-weaving and making a valuable contribution to her family’s livelihood.