It was outside the operating theatre room where patients were waiting for their turn for surgery and generally, the atmosphere was quiet. But everyone burst into laughter when Santoso, a patient, said he works as a security guard.

Although he can only see hand movements (shadows) from his right eye and a maximum one metre from his left he is working as the security guard at a private housing estate in Surabaya.

Well, at least Santoso is unlikely to cause harm, assuming the security level at the private housing estate he is working with is generally safe. Some of our patients are truck drivers who are still driving long distances and at times overnight driving with vision as limited as 3 metres (see stories from our past newsletters in the Archives page).

Although they know they are no longer fit for their job, they will still hold onto it for as long as they can, with all the risks, because that is the only livelihood they have.