There's no doubt that as an actor, I quite often think of what you similar to the world
we flew in last night and we got in after midnight.
We've just driven out of Kathmandu and we're driving another three or four hours to where
Dr Ruit and his team have set up camp.
I have I definitely over the years of sort of match myself up in my head against people
who are really trying to do good things for the world.
And I think there's there's just something about being involved with Fred Hollows that
allows me to go, oh, I'm doing something useful or helpful.
Hey, how are you? Good to see you. Nice to meet you. Oh, thank you.
Fred Hollows was a very famous Australian army surgeon and he believed that everyone
had the right to good eyesight no matter where they lived. And so he dedicated himself to
finding better ways to deliver services and particularly cataract surgery to people right
around the world. To be a big friend passed away in 1993, and he full-on. the Fred Hollows
Foundation in 1992, not long before he died.
Are you assessing people in here?
Joel is one of our global ambassadors and what that basically means is that he helps
us to raise awareness of the Fred Hollows Foundation. He visits our work and is really
happy to talk about the work that we do.
And will he have surgery tomorrow just with one eye or will you do both.
Both today. Afternoon Both. Wow.
I've been involved with Fred Hollows Foundation now for 10 years. Look at that, I've had three
trips to Nepal.
What's her name? Sarki. Kumari Sarki.
Sarki means in Nepal it is the so-called untouchable group.
Most of this group to have any access and most of them are underprivileged. So she's
from that group, from that village.
Joel’s someone who's always happy to just roll up his sleeves, pitch in and really help
people, you know, take an old lady by the hand and lead her out of the surgery to the
waiting area and talk to the families and really interact.
What's the machine that is holding for?
So they set up in an old school or a community hall.
Maybe she's got better blood pressure and maybe a baby is better than mine.
Fred Hollows will announce they're doing an eye camp in a particular region outside of
Kathmandu, and people from the community will come down if they think they need assessment.
Better than mine, I swear. Y
Yeah, I'll generally come in looking like a good actor, you know, once everybody's done
all the hard work.
How do you pronounce your name? Kauchi? Kauchi Maya.
Kauchi. My name’s Joel. Namaste
When people come into these camps, often they've been unable to see for a really long time.
It could have been five years since they last had sight. They have surgery usually the same
day that they've had their eyes checked. And then the next morning the patches are taken
off and they can see again. What is she most excited about being able
to see again?
She said, she has to dance with you. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.
But she said, I've not got the skills to dance.
She's definitely a better dancer than I would be.
Tell her she doesn't have to dance with me. She doesn't have to.
My grandmother, a lot of these ladies just remind me of her.
Yeah. Yeah.
I thought it sounded like she decided she'd rather wrestle me or something like my grandmother
when she was all kind of looked like a lot of these Nepalese women, like really, really
beautiful, wrinkly skin her her hands. That's why I love that.
I'll deal with this song Grandma's Hands, and then she she will have the great pleasure
of seeing my face tomorrow.
When Joel first visited the foundation's work, it was a real connection that he had both
with the patients and being able to see again, but also with people like Dr. Wade.
And I was again, slow. Let's go to L.A. Good. How was it? A bit of beer? Oh, yeah. Look
how great it is. Yeah.
Fred Hollows came to Nepal in 1985. I was working at the high hospital as a young ophthalmologist.
Fred Hollows inspired people like me to be able to bring in, you know, high quality care
and take it to the community level.
One of the things that made cataract surgery unaffordable for people in developing countries
was the cost of the tiny intraocular lenses that are used when you have the cataract removed.
And so Fred and Dr Ruit thought that the best way to do that would be to set up a factory
in Nepal where they could be produced for a much lower cost. And so the cost of those
lenses came down from about 150 dollars to about five dollars.
Cutting the cornea.
So that's the incision there. So go in there and break out cataract.
Cataracts aren't necessarily they're not painful.
See the edge? It's huge.
It's just the impediment it has on life.
Anybody want this? Anybody?
I actually really don't know what to do with it now.
The changes that can be made is not just about one person being able to say this is the land.
So after the cataract is gone, it's the lenses that that produce it to Tilgangal.
You know, you got one or two family members who aren't able to perform their own work
duties and live out their own lives because they spent a large part of their time ushering
a parent around.
I know blindness, especially with cataract, shortens the lifespan and also there's a subsistence
family structure and one person gets knocked off, changes the rhythm of family and changes
the whole economy of the family.
Every case that I do, changes like this is one of the places where the people who are
given surgery today, arresting before they get their patches taken off in our system
are.
So I guess they're excited, but a little bit nervous, too. Well.
Dr Ruit performed, I think they did about 85 surgeries yesterday.
This morning, all of the people who had been operated on yesterday are waiting to have
their patches taken off.
It’s kind of one of the most exciting parts of the process.
Dr Ruit he gets a lot of joy out of it, I think everybody does, particularly the patience
to buy.
You said you would dance with me. Oh, look, this is that's almost break dancing.
I see Joel as a great friend.
Bless you.
He at this level of his career, he also likes to do like I want to do to make changes in
people's life, and he wants to do that as much as he can.
Dr Ruit, I want to know how her back's doing.
The back is good! Good.
But the other thing is the little ticklish that he gets from old lady who has been operated,
you know, and I'm sure that's very addictive.
It's the words he's using as the world looks very new and bright and beautiful.
I think these are the exact words I. OK, here we go again.
We went to a high school. I think they had had a bit of a sense that this is a guy from
Hollywood and they were really excited because of the fact he was from Hollywood, but they
were probably more excited to meet Dr. Phil.
Wait, he's almost godlike status in the work that he's done because he's restored sight
to more than 120,000 people. And so when he turns up with Joel, he's the superstar and
Joel's the bloke from Australia who comes along along the way.
Part of the reason that I love Nepal so much is because I met Dr Ruit on my first trip,
and he is one of the greatest people that I've ever had the chance to spend time with
as an actor. It's very it's a very selfish life. People take an interest in actors, but
to me, the great people are people who are helping other people. You guys are always
going to be the future. So don't mess it up.
You know, I'm giving something back, but also I get something out of it. I get a lot out
of it, actually, it's not just like I'm going, 'Alright, well this is just two weeks I'm
giving to Fred Hollows'. I get maybe more out of it than I do in terms of how it makes
me feel and the people that I meet. It definitely makes me feel like I've balanced up the equilibrium
of of a selfish, selfish life.