IPS
Dr. Helena Ndume of Namibia was one of two people honored with the first United Nations Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize on July 24, 2015.
Ndume has performed 30,000 pro bono surgeries for sufferers of eye-related illnesses in Namibia, according to the nonprofit Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) International. The blind patients are fitted with intraocular lens implants free of charge.
In 2015, she collaborated with SEE on three programs in Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The organization expected 700 patients to regain their eyesight in the programs.
Ndume left Namibia for exile at age 15. She lived in Zambia and The Gambia, where she completed secondary school, and Angola, before going to Germany to study medicine.
Growing up, she wanted to be a fashion designer, but she was encouraged to take another path. “The secretary of education in our refugee camp said, ‘No way! We do not need fashion designers in an independent Namibia. To come make clothes for who? We need doctors, and I want you to be a doctor.’ ”
She is now the head of the Ophthalmology Department at Windhoek Central Hospital, Namibia’s largest hospital, and is one of only six Namibian ophthalmologists.
The other 2015 winner was Jorge Fernando Branco Sampaio of Portugal. The award is presented every five years to mark the outstanding achievements and contributions of two people — one male and one female — from different geographic regions. The United Nations established the award in honor of Mandela, the first president under a multiethnic government in South Africa.
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