Criscent Bwambale sees for the first time in Uganda

For the first six years of his life Criscent Bwambale was one of 18 million people in the developing world currently estimated to be living with preventable blindness. He was born with cataracts, able to make out only vague areas of light and dark.

In Uganda, where Criscent lives with his grandmother in a mud-built house surrounded by cocoa plantations, that means almost total exclusion from normal life. He couldn't go to school or play with other children his age, and had to rely on his family for even the most basic task.

In January, the family responded to a call from a Ugandan medical team supported by international charity Sightsavers, to submit their children for eye tests, which resulted in Criscent undergoing double cataract surgery at a hospital in Mbarara to the west of the country.

                           

Two months later, vision therapist Nelson Chwa examines Criscent's eyes before fitting him with spectacles, allowing him to see the world clearly for the first time.

                             

A doctor puts new glasses on Criscent for the first time.

Criscent strides out of the Eye hospital with his new glasses. "Before the operation he relied on his grandmother or another member of his family to do everything for him. But now he's a confident and independent little boy," said Joseph Magyezi, a hospital official.

On the journey back to his home village of Bundibugyo, Criscent looks out of the car window with amazement.

"He needs to learn to recognize things and their names. For example, he has never seen a boat or a chicken, so he does not know what these are called," said Magyezi.

                          

Criscent sits in class on his first ever day in school. He has never seen letters before, and must learn the alphabet from scratch. "He has lost many years of learning and his brain now needs to catch up with what he sees," said Magyezi.