The volunteers asked the audience to shut their eyes and list out the activities they could pull off at that moment. Ilango, a rice mill owner in Keezhapavoor of Tenkasi, opened his eyes to empathise with those who lost the power of vision.
He stepped out of the comforts of his revenue-earning mill, to share the experience and the importance of organ donation. It wasn't easy. If you asked someone to donate their deceased kin's eyes, they would stare at you, he says. "There will be several excuses it is not allowed in our religion, eyes allow you to see your ancestors in the afterlife, and many more. Some others threatened me with legal action for organ trafficking." But he did not step back.
He brought in a small bunch of dedicated people under the Eye Donation Awareness Team. Ilango's work in the past 14 years speaks volumes of his and the team's dedication. They collected about 360 pairs of eyeballs and restored vision of more than 1,000 visually-impaired individuals.
"When someone regains their vision, it feels like a rebirth for them. What else could satisfy me more than helping a person achieve that?" asks Ilango.
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