We all know that sight is very important to us. But sight is a gift, an ability that we shouldn’t take for granted: the World Health Organisation states that there are 39 million blind people worldwide but 80 percent of these suffer from preventable blindness. IWISHUSUN was founded to change this and to save as many people as possible. In the past year you have helped us decreasing this number by ordering our products and saving an eye with every IWISHUSUN item sold. Since we consider transparency to be of the utmost importance here, we want to show you those who benefited from your support. Therefore our “People” section introduces you to the people in Bangladesh who have been helped by our partner ORBIS International, the non-profit organisation that has been saving sight and helping the blind for more than 30 years.

One of them is Prachi, a 5-year-girl and the eldest daughter of a four-member family. Living in Paratongi village which is situated 25 kilometers from Mymensingh town, Prachi’s father is a sales man who works in a welding factory and since her mother is a house wife he is the only earning member. With a monthly income of around Tk.5000 her family is very poor.

When Prachi was about three and half years old, her mother observed that Prachi’s eyes were white as pearls but due to a lack of education, information and wrong believes all of her family members did not consider this condition as an eye problem or disease wherefore they ignored it. When Prachi turned four and was enrolled in the nearest Kindergarten her tutor found that his student was unable to see easily without minimizing her eye lids and discovered some big white spot in her eyes – shortly after the girl was diagnosed as a case of congenital cataract (both eyes) by a trained ophthalmologist at Mymensingh BNSB Eye Hospital. For the first time Prachi’s parents realised that their daughter suffered from a serious eye disease.

In the following Prachi underwent a successful cataract surgery with IOL implantation in both of her eyes (right eye on May 15, 2012 and left eye on July 03, 2012) – an intervention that changed her life. With the help of her glasses she is able to see as good as everyone else now. She went back to school and enjoys her studies which not only improved her life but also her parents’ and puts her in the position to escape the bitter poverty one day.

Stefan Trees, editor of karriereführer handel, met our co-founder Cathy Boom for an interview and introduces his readers to our project. Read his very well written and intelligent text here (only in German).

We all know that sight is very important to us. But sight a gift, an ability that we shouldn’t take for granted: the World Health Organisation states that there are 39 million blind people worldwide but 80 percent of these suffer from preventable blindness. IWISHUSUN was founded to change this and to save as many people as possible. In the past year you have helped us decreasing this number by ordering our products and saving an eye with every IWISHUSUN item sold. Since we consider transparency to be of the utmost importance here, we want to show you those who benefited from your support. Therefore our “People” section introduces you to the people in Bangladesh who have been helped by our partner ORBIS International, the non-profit organisation that has been saving sight and helping the blind for more than 30 years.

Kod Banu, aged 55, has been operated by ORBIS’ doctors. For one and a half years she has had problems with her eyes and for the last month she couldn’t see at all. She couldn’t work, cook, keep my house clean or feed her children. Her husband is bed-ridden and because she was unable to farm they had little money. Kod Banu was desperate thinking her family was cursed. After several other stops she arrived at the hospital where a cataract operation saved her: “Now I can keep my house well, my vision is very good and I can look after my children again. Thank you for helping me!”

Photography: ORBIS. 

Dear IWISHUSUN friends,

Last Friday Typhoon Haiyan swept across the Philippines, destroying up to 90% of some areas. 10,000 people are estimated to have died, with hundreds of thousands more living in precarious conditions with no access to food or shelter.

Together with our friends and community in Hong Kong we are doing all we can to provide relief, but we need your help !

We are currently gathering donations to buy food, as this is the most urgent need to be addressed. In the Philippines, 50kg of rice cost 40euros and can feed a family of 8 for one month. Please donate now at this account:

Account name: IWISHUSUN LIMITED
Bank Name: Hang Seng Bank Ltd.
Bank Account Number: 212-390520-883
Bank Swift Code: HASEHKHH

If you are in Hong Kong, please contact us to find out more about how to make clothing donations-we will have shipments every morning.

Help us bring some sun back to our friends in the Philippines!

Thank you,
The IWISHUSUN team.

In the past months we have been able to help so many people who suffered from preventable blindness in Bangladesh but have been saved by a cataract operation or received a pair of glasses through ORBIS International‘s work – thanks to you and your IWISHUSUN purchases! Today we want to thank you for your support, dear customers, as well as look back on Henning Heide‘s trip to Bangladesh. When the Hamburg-based photographer and friend of IWISHUSUN (read his interview here) came back home he did not only bring a lot of memories and experiences but also his pictures which he had taken of the people who have received an eye operation thanks to products bought here.

With the cooperation with ORBIS at the Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute  in Bangladesh we can guarantee that the money flows directly into this project, enabling us to document who has received eye surgery. The Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital in Dhaka is not only the largest but also the oldest hospital in Bangladesh, specialised on eye disease. For more than 50 years a wide range of eye diseases have been treated and a particular emphasis is on treating poorer sectors of society. The aim is to provide each patient with the same high level of medical care, regardless of their financial situation, and the hospital is open to everyone.

Meet more people who have been saved in our “PEOPLE” section.

Our People section introduces you to the people in Bangladesh who have been helped by our partner ORBIS International, the non-profit organisation that has been saving sight and helping the blind for more than 30 years. These people suffered from preventable blindness and have been saved by a cataract operation or received a pair of glasses through ORBIS National Childhood Blindness Project (NCBP) two causes IWISHUSUN supports!

Photo: ORBIS.

Our People section introduces you to the people in Bangladesh who have been helped by our partner ORBIS International, the non-profit organisation that has been saving sight and helping the blind for more than 30 years. These people suffered from preventable blindness and have been saved by a cataract operation or received a pair of glasses through ORBIS National Childhood Blindness Project (NCBP) two causes IWISHUSUN supports!

Photo: ORBIS.

Photo: ORBIS

Today is World Sight Day! Our eyesight is a gift, one of the greatest we can imagine and without it we would surely experience the world in different ways. 39 million people miss the wonderful and essential experience of seeing because they are blind. 80 percent of these could have been helped by operations and medical care though. They suffered from preventable blindness but often have little access to medicine or the means to pay for an operation and simply go blind. This is completely unnecessary! In cooperation with our non-profit partner organisation ORBIS International we attend to these 80 percent and therefore we need your help! Help us to decrease this number and save an eyesight with every item you buy here.

Remember the value of our ability to see! Today is a very special day to remember the importance of sight - World Sight Day is the international day of awareness to focus global attention on blindness and visual impairment. This year it falls on October 10, 2013. For this reason ORBIS offers a lot of different opportunities to show awareness and empathy but also here you can easily make a difference through IWISHUSUN, too.

Do good and feel good at the same time! IWISHUSUN provides the opportunity to receive a high quality product for a fair price, at the same time as supporting a good cause in those countries in which the fashion world and we produce our products. Browse our online shop, decide in favour of one our our logo T-shirts, our down jackets, our bags or get one of the last owl print T-shirts which were released in collaboration with Milan-based multi talent and found of County of Milan, Marcelo Burlon and save another person’s eyesight because with every IWISHUSUN product sold either a cataract operation or a pair of glasses for a school child will be financed via our partner ORBIS. That way we all profit.

100 percent of our profit go to charity!

2nd photo via ORBIS: Sean Breithaupt + Yvette Monahan Photography.

IWISHUSUN wishes you sun! Become part of the family too and do good at the same time since with every logo T-shirt sold we are able to finance a pair of glasses for a school child in Bangladesh through the “National Childhood Blindness Project (NCBP)” with ORBIS - browse through our online store here.