Fred Hollows Foundation

Senior ophthalmologists David Pahau of the Fred Hollows Foundation said the team screened over a thousand patients.

The ophthalmologists performed 30-40 operations daily and at times worked late into the night.

“Our expected target was 300 successful operations by the end of the outreach. But we have exceeded that target and by the end of the third week of the outreach, we would have treated over 500 patients,” Dr. Pahau said.

The outreach came about as a result of cataract screenings which has been ongoing for the last two years in the province.

And for one family, that's a common complaint.

Meet the Timbangs.

They live in Tarlac, about two hours' drive north of Manila, in the Philippines.

The Timbangs have a rare genetic form of cataracts that has left three generations partially blind.

In 25 years, the Fred Hollows Foundation has never had a case like this, with so many members of a family affected.

"The kids are lucky if they can finish grade 6 because they can't even see the blackboard," grandmother Iluminada Timbang Paculanan said.