History
En français
Helen Keller International, which celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2005, is among the oldest international nonprofit organizations devoted to fighting and treating preventable blindness. HKI works shoulder-to-shoulder with the medical community and with governmental and non-governmental agencies around the globe, toward our mission of helping save the sight and lives of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.
From a small but ambitious beginning helping soldiers blinded in the WWI, HKI has grown into an organization that helps millions of people all over the world. Ironically, Helen Keller International’s story begins with an appalling tragedy, the sinking of the Lusitania.
Permanent Blind Relief Fund
On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat sank the British ocean liner Lusitania. One of the survivors was George Kessler, a wealthy New York wine merchant. During his fight for survival, Kessler resolved that, if he lived, he would devote his energy and his resources to helping victims of the war.
During a brief hospitalization in England, Kessler met Sir Arthur Pearson, a blind English newspaper publisher, who told him about St. Dunstan's, a center he had started to help men blinded by the war. Kessler and his wife, Cora Parsons Kessler, decided the best way to fulfill his resolution was to join in the effort to help soldiers blinded by the war.
On November 11, 1915, the Kesslers formally organized the British, French, Belgian Permanent Blind Relief War Fund in Paris, with French war veteran Georges Raverat as head of European operations. Back in the United States, they asked Helen Adams Keller, who was then 35 years old and known around the world, for her support. She agreed, stating: "My heart glows every time I think of what you are doing for the blinded soldiers. May our work grow until every man who has given his sight for his country will feel the comforting warmth of a friendly hand guiding him through a dark strange world."
The Permanent War Relief Fund's office officially opened in Paris in 1918, and, in 1919, the American branch was incorporated in New York State as the Permanent Blind Relief War Fund for Soldiers & Sailors of the Allies, with Helen Keller and Cora Kessler as members of the board. The Fund opened a school and workshop for the blind in Belgium and financially supported St. Dunstan's. Schools in France taught blind veterans how to make chairs and brushes, and how to knit.
Kessler died in 1920 and was succeeded by William Nelson Cromwell, a New York lawyer, who opened a press to print Braille text and music. The first volume was published in 1923 in Paris. By 1925, the press had published books with a total of five million pages of Braille writing, five periodicals and various pieces of music. The output, distributed to 40 libraries in France, England, the United States, Belgium, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa and Yugoslavia, included the works of Willa Cather, Alexander Dumas, Anatole France and Leo Tolstoy, among others.
American Braille Press
In 1925, the Permanent War Relief Fund expanded its focus to serve blind civilians as well as veterans, and changed its name to the American Braille Press for War and Civilian Blind. Its work quickly extended throughout Europe and to Africa and Asia. All publications were distributed free of charge, and the Press produced devices and processes to make reading and writing Braille easier, including the development of a Braille reading machine. It also spearheaded international conferences to heighten awareness of the problems of blind people. By the 1930s, books and publications were being printed in Poland, Belgium, Portugal, Colombia and Brazil, and the Press issued its first "talking book" in 1937.
With the advent of World War II, the Press began making plans to help the soldiers who would inevitably be blinded in battle. The German occupation of France, however, severely curtailed activities. Production of talking books was halted, and resumed years later in 1956. The Press's building was requisitioned in 1943 as headquarters of the German Admiralty, and eventually by the Gestapo. Germany’s desperate need of war materiel imposed requisitions for all metal to be melted down for munitions. Raverat and his associates hid from the Nazis the zinc plates necessary for printing Braille books. After the liberation of Paris in 1944, Raverat triumphantly announced that: "The American Braille Press offices and equipment are intact, [after] a fierce struggle at repeated intervals with the occupants."
American Foundation for Overseas Blind
After WWII, the Press became affiliated with the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). Founded in 1921, AFB currently provides technical assistance, research services and public education about blindness, and distributes professional publications. Helen Keller was actively involved with both AFFB and the American Braille Press, serving on the boards of both organizations. To reflect their close relationship, the Press changed its name to American Foundation for Overseas Blind (AFOB). AFB distributed clothing and Braille writing supplies throughout Europe, and began sending malnourished French blind children to England; AFOB added rehabilitation to its mission, and expanded its work to Africa, Asia and the Americas.
In 1949, spearheaded by the AFOB, an International Conference of Workers for the Blind met at Oxford University, attended by representatives of the United Nations and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Landmark resolutions passed at the conference stressed the need to give blind people the physical, psychological and technical means to take their place in society, with particular emphasis on education.
The AFOB continued to expand, and began offering programs in China, Iran, Israel and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Its efforts focused on the rehabilitation of blind people to help them to lead more productive lives, and the publication and distribution of Braille books.
By the 1960s, however, international organizations began to shift their efforts toward blindness prevention and cure. In 1966, at the First African Conference on Work for the Blind, the first discussions were held about taking steps to prevent blindness, in addition to helping those already afflicted. Research intensified in four primary areas: trachoma, onchocerciasis, cataract and nutritional blindness.
In the 1970s, Dr. Alfred Sommer of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health conducted studies on vitamin A deficiency in collaboration with HKI in Aceh, Indonesia. Dr. Sommer’s groundbreaking research showed that vitamin A deficiency resulted not only in blindness, but also in increased maternal and child morbidity and mortality.
The AFOB soon realized that small expenditures could bring extensive results, and, accordingly, began distributing vitamin A capsules in Indonesia and El Salvador. The results were impressive, and distribution of the vitamin expanded, both geographically and in the number of people affected.
In 1976, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded the AFOB a $1-million grant to expand its distribution of vitamin A. In 1978, the organization began vitamin A programs in Bangladesh. By 1984, tens of millions of children worldwide were receiving capsules of vitamin A, and childhood blindness was being reduced dramatically.
Even today, between 100 and 140 million children worldwide are vitamin A deficient, and an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 vitamin A-deficient children a year become blind, with 50% dying within 1 year of losing their sight. Yet, only two doses of vitamin A annually at a cost of $1 are needed.
Helen Keller International (HKI)
In 1977, the organization made a significant and symbolic change by changing its name to Helen Keller International to recognize the contributions of Helen Keller. Helen Keller, who died in 1968, had worked tirelessly throughout her life to help not only the blind and deaf, but anyone who was vulnerable or disadvantaged. HKI’s programs continue to honor the vision and spirit of its mentor.
Health and Nutrition
In the late 1980s, Helen Keller International took the lead in encouraging people in developing countries to produce and consume food rich in vitamin A, instead of merely taking the nutrient in capsule form.
In 1988, in Bangladesh, for example, HKI inaugurated its Homestead Food Production project in partnership with the Government of Bangladesh and many non-governmental organizations. At the time the project began, Bangladeshi children were eating a daily average of only 46 grams of leafy vegetables, an excellent source of vitamin A, compared to the recommended daily intake of 200 grams. Yet, a garden that will provide proper nutrition and feed a family of six can be created for only $7. By the end of 1995, HKI’s Homestead Food Production program had reached 288,000 households, located in 90 of the 460 districts or thanas. Home gardens for one thana cost $16,700 a year to support. Thus, for about $50,000, these gardens can help protect 40,300 people from malnutrition-based blindness.
Eye Health
At the same time, HKI was also concentrating on controlling onchocerciasis, or “river blindness,” in Africa. Onchocerciasis, the third leading cause of blindness in Africa, is caused by a worm transmitted by the bite of the black fly. The parasite can live and reproduce for up to 14 years in the human body, and people blinded due to onchocerciasis typically die 12 years prematurely.
In 1974, the Onchocerciasis Control Programme (OCP) was inaugurated in West Africa, through the joint efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank. The OCP sprayed insecticides where black flies breed, succeeding in bringing the fly virtually under control wherever spraying occurred.
Meanwhile, in the late 1980s, scientists discovered that the drug ivermectin kills the larval worms that cause onchocerciasis, and decreases transmission of the disease. The drug manufacturer Merck & Co., which produces ivermectin under the trade name Mectizan®, committed to donating the drug to those afflicted. In 1991, Helen Keller International developed a three-pronged strategy to combat onchocerciasis: distribution of ivermectin, community education activities to maintain awareness of the disease and available treatment, and strengthening local primary health infrastructures. Merck, in partnership with HKI, assisted in integrating Mectizan® distribution programs into existing primary health care structures in order to reach as many people as possible.
HKI has also been involved in the struggle to control trachoma, the world's leading cause of infectious blindness. The disease is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, which can cause infection in childhood but usually causes blindness later in life. Repeated infections cause inflammation and scarring on the inside of the eyelid. Eventually, eyelashes turn inward and rub against the cornea, causing pain and eventually scarring that causes blindness.
International organizations, including HKI, have adopted the WHO-endorsed S.A.F.E. strategy to combat trachoma: Surgery, simple procedures that can be done in rural villages; Antibiotics to treat active infections; Facial cleanliness to help reduce transmission of the disease; and Environmental improvements to increase people's access to clean water, and educate them about proper health and hygiene procedures.
In 1997, after years of studying the disease and helping millions of people affected by it throughout the world, HKI established its Trachoma Task Force The following year, it became a member of the newly formed International Trachoma Initiative, in association with The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation and Pfizer, Inc. The oral antibiotic azithromycin is a proven remedy against the infection of Chlamydia trachomatis, and Pfizer, which markets the drug under the trade name Zithromax®, makes it available free of charge in countries where trachoma is endemic.
HKI continued to grow; by 1985, the organization had programs and services in eight Asian, nine Latin American and five African countries.
In 1986, John Palmer became director of HKI. One of his first initiatives was to launch a global attack against cataract, the leading cause of blindness worldwide. By 1987, HKI announced the existence of "cataract-free zones" in Indonesia, the Philippines and China; its work soon expanded into Peru, Brazil and eight other countries. Ophthalmic surgeons donated their services to provide the relatively simple sight-restoring operations.
By 1990, the programs of HKI had reached 36.5 million people worldwide, and continued to grow. Although the organization continued its commitment to programs for blindness prevention, it also began to make the needs of children with poor vision a priority.
In 1993, HKI inaugurated its ChildSight® program in Brazil to help children suffering from poor vision. Studies show that up to 25% of children between 10 and 15 fail standard vision tests. Poor vision often results in poor academic performance, but, with correctly prescribed eyeglasses, students can see blackboards and textbooks better and perform better academically. ChildSight® was developed to provide free vision screening for adolescents in their schools, and distribute free eyeglasses to those who need them, at no cost to the students, families or schools.
In 1994, ChildSight® began in New York City, becoming the first Helen Keller International program in the United States. The program quickly expanded, and currently serves children in thirteen urban and four rural communities in nine states, as well as in Mexico, Morocco and the Philippines. In the United States alone, ChildSight® has conducted 724,087 vision screenings and provided over 81,000 free prescription eyeglasses to children in need.
In other countries, HKI also works with children to provide additional services as needed, including cataract surgery, eye examinations, treatment of eye diseases and preventive education. The program also trains local government workers, teachers and health personnel, and integrates its services into existing health care protocols.
In 1999, HKI joined several other organizations to officially launch Vision 2020: The Right to Sight, a new global initiative for the elimination of avoidable blindness worldwide by the year 2020. Developed in conjunction with the World Health Organization, its philosophy is "to eliminate the main causes of blindness in order to give all people in the world, particularly the millions of needlessly blind, the right to sight."
On September 11, 2001 HKI’s Headquarters offices in New York City were destroyed during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Miraculously, every employee was evacuated without injury when the towers fell. Although no employees were injured, the loss to the organization was staggering. Its computers and data files were lost; telephone, e-mail and fax capability were destroyed, and priceless archival items, including letters, photographs and books belonging to Helen Keller, were destroyed. Yet, HKI’s programs continued to be fully operational and the organization quickly found a new home in Manhattan. The experience reflected Helen Keller’s statement that “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it,” a message that HKI heeds in all of its efforts.
On March 28, 2005, Kathy Spahn was appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer, with John Palmer having returned to the field to become Country Director for Indonesia. Kathy Spahn had most recently been the President and Executive Director of ORBIS, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of blindness in the developing world.
HKI celebrated 90th anniversary in 2005: as long as the need exists, Helen Keller International will be at the forefront of the march toward Helen Keller's visions of a better world.
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