Concert in the Dark
Introduction
CBM Kenya hosted a fundraising concert dubbed ‘Concert in the Dark.’ Concert in the Dark was a unique and intimate performance that bridged the gap between artists and their audience as they were empowered to participate in an active music listening experience, in complete and total pitch darkness. All the proceeds from this event were channeled towards carrying out Cataract Surgeries for children. The cost of a cataract surgery and post-operative care and management was KES 25,000 and the goal of the event was to raise KES 7 million to carry out 200 cataract surgeries including post-operative care, documentation and follow up the project.
About The Event
Concert in the dark was a revolutionary experience that blended music, darkness, and communication together; with the mission of raising awareness about the challenges that persons with vision impairment face in their daily activities. Both the artists and the audience remembered what it was like to perform, listen and experience performances without the distraction of visual conditioning, social etiquette, and cell phones. The audience was guided and served by a troupe of visually impaired ushers inside the dark chamber. Participants were able to enjoy the extraordinary experience, while contributing to a worthy cause.
About The Cause
Child eye health is one of the key focus areas for CBM Kenya. There are several causes of childhood blindness and 75% of these are preventable through early detection and management. The control of childhood blindness is important to CBM Kenya because childhood blindness directly contributes to high mortality rate of children under 5 years and high rate of poverty.
Visual impairments from refractive error and cataracts are treatable. Cataract is resolved through a simple 15-minute operation, where the cloudy lens in the eye is replaced with a new one surgically. It is one of the most performed operations worldwide. Unfortunately, many children in Kenya who have cataracts are unable to afford this surgery and end up losing sight completely.
Provision of cataract surgeries contribute towards poverty alleviation, through increasing productive activities of people with cataract and reducing their dependence on other household members for care. Provision of cataract surgery also substantially improves aspects of quality of life for individuals and better performance in school for children.
