I have witnessed a lot of miracles, pain and suffering over the past 30 years but by far, the most powerful thing I have ever witnessed is watching blind children and adults open their eyes and see.

I desperately wanted to capture this experience on film so we could share it with our donors and also use it to increase awareness about the desperate plight of the 20 million “needlessly blind” children and adults in the world who are waiting for surgery.

When I told me good friend Pam Huling about this, she told me she had just the person to help us: Brent Stirton.

Brent is one of the most talented, accomplished and renowned photographers in the world. He is also incredibly altruistic and generous.

After Pam arranged a meeting and I got the opportunity to tell Brent all about the problem of blindness in the developing world, he volunteered to help us at no charge.

He came to Calcutta, India to shoot two sisters who were both born blind.

Brent and his super talented videographer partner Robert, captured the amazing experience of Anita and Sonya before their surgery, during surgery, and after surgery when they both opened their eyes and saw their mother for the very first time in their life.

I was lucky enough to be there that day and I must tell you it was one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed.

After this video was chosen as the Video Of The Month by National Geographic it went viral.

To date, First Sight has been seen by 20+ million people and it has generated donations from almost 100 countries  – including Kazakhstan.

First Sight was the most popular video on the Nat Geo website for more than a year.

Take a look and you will see why!