Soubin is from Ban Selaban, a small village in the south of Laos, and being only 20 years old, she is one of the younger patients of Asian Eye Care (AEC). From the age of eight, she gradually became blind in both eyes and, accordingly, had to give up many things. She could help her family in the field less and less, and eventually, she even had to stop going to school.

From her family, she heard that AEC offered free eye surgery in the provincial hospital in Pakse, which was an exceptional chance to her, because her family would never be able to pay for such surgery.

In a country like Laos, blindness does not only mean that you become very restricted yourself, but also that you must be taken care of and guided by family members. In Laos, many families, like Soubin's, live below the poverty line and so, blindness means an extra mouth to be fed, while the family is hardly capable of carrying this extra burden. A burden that in many cases can be relieved by eye surgery.

The feeling Soubin had when, after the surgery, she could see her father again, is beyond comparison. Soubin has the feeling that she has been given a second chance. After she had lost almost all her independence in the flower of her age, she can now do her bit again at home and she can also return to school. That gives her life perspective again!