Our year
at a glance

One of the honours of a chairman’s role is thanking people for doing good. 2019 was an exceptional year for The Foundation and that is thanks to Team Fred; the many wonderful people involved in The Foundation intent on keeping Fred’s vision alive of eliminating avoidable blindness.

You are a member of Team Fred, along with our other donors, our many partners and collaborators, and our fantastic staff in New Zealand and the Pacific. The passion, the skills and commitment exercised everyday by this team is truly inspiring.

But a team cannot achieve the kind of results and impact outlined in this report without committed, skilled and passionate captains, coaches and leaders. This year, I acknowledge two very special leaders who served and guided Team Fred to realise the impact it now has.

Firstly, Sir Robert George Mappin Fenwick KNZM KStJ (5 May 1951 – 11 March 2020) who sadly lost his five-year dance with cancer. Rob was a trustee from 2007 and chaired The Foundation from 2010 till ill health forced him to step down in 2015. Rob was a true champion of the organisation in every respect and gave his governance expertise willingly and to great effect.

Secondly to our Executive Director Andrew Bell who left us in late March 2020 to concentrate on his health and family after being diagnosed with the early onset of idiopathic Parkinson’s disease. Andrew joined The Foundation in 2010 as Programmes Director and was appointed to lead the organisation as Executive Director in 2012. In his decade with the organisation, Andrew led improvements to all aspects of The Foundation in his execution of the board’s strategy resulting in a more effective, impactful, and sustainable organisation. And all in a humble, caring style that has grown and maintained a great culture within The Foundation.

Both Rob and Andrew have truly done Team Fred proud. Their legacy will continue.

It was a remarkable privilege to attend the funeral of Fred’s brother Monty last year. As is often the case, I learnt more about Monty through the tributes than I ever did by meeting him, and many of the stories included Fred.

When we hear about famous people it is easy to think they have always been famous. This was certainly not the case with Fred. The Hollows family were the consummate humble, hardworking Kiwi family. No special privileges or ceremony beyond a deep commitment to the local church. We were told that Fred was the only brother of four chosen to go to Palmerston North Boys' High as ‘he was the one with the brains’.

The story of Fred resonates with Kiwis because we can relate to these humble origins. I think what so many people like is that he never lost touch with his hard-working regional roots and it was his Kiwi ‘can do’ attitude that made him famous.

I often call our graduates the ‘sons and daughters’ of Fred. They are his heirs in so many ways. Humble beginnings. No airs and graces. Just dogged determination to eliminate avoidable blindness. Like most of us they will not be world famous like Fred. But they certainly deserve to be, as do you. Without your amazing support, they would not have trained as eye care specialists and returned home to do the wonderful work they do. It is not a stretch to say that you have helped to restore sight. As Fred famously said, ‘You don’t need to be an eye doctor to give someone back their sight’.

As the Chair has mentioned, I have unexpectedly had to resign from the job I have loved for 10 years for health reasons. I would like to record my sincere gratitude to the Board for entrusting me with the role. A big thank you to Gabi Hollows for her unwavering and enthusiastic support for my leadership. To the magnificent staff team in New Zealand and across the Pacific, I say a big ‘tenkyu tru’ for all your amazing efforts every day, to make Fred’s vision a reality. And finally to you, the donors, some I have had the pleasure of meeting but most I haven’t. Thank you so much for your faithful generosity which has made all of this possible.

Having been with The Foundation since it started delivering programmes in the Pacific in 2001, I cannot express the sense of fulfilment I feel when I look at all that has been achieved over the intervening years. From establishing the Pacific Eye Institute in Fiji, the region’s first ever training centre for Pacific eye health workers, to the incredible milestone we achieved last year of having at least one local eye doctor in the key seven countries where The Foundation works, all supported by trained eye nurses. The sense of progress and achievement is immense. One of the dreams of Fred Hollows was to train effective, self-sustaining eye care specialists.

However, as Medical Director, I feel The Foundation still has much work to do. This includes ensuring our eye doctor and nurse graduates are supported in the challenging medical environments that they are returning to, as well as tackling the vast eye care challenges faced in Papua New Guinea, a country with one of the highest rates of avoidable blindness in the world.

In the spirit of Fred Hollows himself, I am looking forward to facing future challenges head on and helping to contribute and guide The Foundation towards its ultimate goal of ending avoidable blindness in the Pacific.