Wheelchair for a Century of Life: Sudhir’s Personal Gesture Steals Hearts at Bukedea Eye Camp

By Gad Masereka 

Among thousands of lives touched at the Rajiv Ruparelia Free Eye Camp over the weekend, one moment on Saturday evening stood apart, quiet, unhurried and entirely human.

Esther Amoding, 104 years old and among the oldest beneficiaries at Bukedea Teaching Hospital, received a brand-new wheelchair from businessman Dr Sudhir Ruparelia, a gesture that drew tears and prayers from those who witnessed it and quickly became the most talked-about moment of the three-day outreach.

Frail and previously constrained in her movement, Amoding’s response was immediate. She broke into prayer, calling down blessings on Sudhir’s long life and continued generosity, her voice carrying the weight of years spent waiting for the kind of care that had now arrived at her doorstep.

For the centenarian, the wheelchair represented more than improved mobility. It signified restored independence, the ability to move through the world without dependence on others for every journey. Witnesses described the moment as one of the most powerful expressions of the camp’s broader purpose: to restore not just sight, but dignity.

The RR Eye Camp, which began on Friday March 27, had by Saturday already screened thousands of patients, conducted numerous cataract surgeries and distributed hundreds of pairs of glasses to beneficiaries drawn from across Teso and beyond. Yet it is Esther Amoding’s face, alight with gratitude in the courtyard of Bukedea Teaching Hospital, that is likely to linger longest in the memory of those who were present.

The camp was due to close on Sunday March 29 with a ceremony presided over by Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, the founder of the hospital where the outreach was held. In a season of significant medical and institutional milestones, Saturday’s quiet exchange between a billionaire and a centenarian offered a reminder of what philanthropy at its most genuine looks like.