Imagine losing your sight through poverty and spending the rest of your life -- even from childhood -- in total darkness.

The sight of trees, skies, animals, family and playmates you once loved are all gone forever because of poor diet, poor hygiene, no access to treatment for eye disease, and no education on how to prevent it.

To those living in the affluent western world -- where nutritious food is readily available, vitamins can be bought in supermarkets; clean water and hygiene are taken for granted, and sophisticated medical treatment is just a phone call away -- the concept of anyone going blind unnecessarily is as alien as life without television.

Yet, preventable blindness is rampant in Central and South America, Africa and India, where thousands of people lose their sight every day.

And that is one thing the service organisation, Lions International, is dedicating much of its work to stamping out.

In doing so, it is fulfilling a challenge laid down to the organisation by the late Miss Helen Keller, who was born blind and asked the Lions to become her eyes by helping to overcome preventable blindness in the world.

Today, the sheer magnitude of the Lions' task is perhaps best illustrated by its own statistics: Over 40 million people live in the shadow of blindness.

By the end of each day there could be 4300 more.

Every 30-40 seconds someone falls victim to the onset of preventable or reversible blindness.

If the trend is allowed to continue, the World Health Organisation (WHO) projects that the number of blind people worldwide could double within 25 years -- a terrible prospect, considering 80 percent of blindness is preventable.

Yet for one organisation to undertake eradication of the unnecessary causes is not only impossible but also astronomically expensive, so a global initiative was devised, in which the International Association of Lions Clubs has been deeply involved.

In 1989, Lions convened an international sight symposium in Singapore.

Leading opthamalogical experts from every region of the world gathered to assess the status of eye care and eye health. They concluded that action had to be taken quickly.

Out of a further meeting in 1990, operation SightFirst was born.

This global initiative is described as "the most ambitious and far-reaching blindness prevention effort ever undertaken'' and involves Lions "working in co-operation with other dedicated groups to bring sight to millions living in darkness, and to prevent millions more from needlessly suffering the tragedy of blindness''.

Utilising the Lions means that the fund-raising skills of its million-plus volunteer membership is not only cost-effective but capable of producing dramatic results.

Based on an estimated overall target of $200 million, the Lions divided that figure by its 1.4 million membership and charged its members to contribute roughly $150 per person.

From this, `model clubs' have evolved, of which the Hamilton Lions in Bermuda is one.

"Model clubs are ones who decide, through personal giving of the membership plus projects, to raise three times their share,'' visiting national co-ordinator of campaign SightFirst, Mr. Otto Strobino, explained.

"The Hamilton Lions decided to be a model club and went far past their goal, raising approximately $77,000 for the worldwide effort.'' "This is the final, and the most intensive year,'' local Lions district co-ordinator, Mr. Dudley Cottingham, explained. "Each club was left to decide how they wanted to raise funds, and the Hamilton Lions decided they wanted to raise three times their share. They have, in fact, raised over seven times their share.'' Island-wide, the various Lions clubs have raised approximately $130,000 over two years.

In fact, so impressive has the Bermuda effort been that not only was Mr.

Strobino in Bermuda last weekend to specifically to acknowledge its contribution, but he also uses the local model in talks to other Lions' clubs as being "typical, committed and dedicated to the cause''.

"My visit is a thank-you to the club for what they are accomplishing and for what they have done here, as well as to tell them what will happen from now on,'' he said.

In keeping with Lions worldwide, the local fund-raising effort for SightFirst will cease on June 29.

Mr. Cottingham also stated that the Hamilton Lioness Club, under the chairmanship of Mrs. Jane Amaral, was expected to raise around $15,000 by campaign's end, while Paget Lions were "set to raise approximately $26,000''.

Although June will mark the end of the two-year intensive fund-raising effort, Mr. Strobino expects the SightFirst campaign to last a decade. In fact, Lions have already begun utilising the funds.

"We have done over 2.5 million general eye testings on all aspects of diseases, and close to half a million cataract surgeries, which means there are people who were blind when the campaign started who can now see,'' Mr.

Strobino said.

Part of the programme has included taking mobile vans staffed by physicians and technicians into the backwoods of Third World countries where hospitals or other care facilities cannot be built, treating the people of the area, and then moving on.

"We have 144 projects already with programmes in 44 different countries,'' Mr. Strobino said. "We have built or are building 30 eye hospitals, all in key areas. Blindness in Third World countries is in pockets, except in India, where it extends throughout the whole country. Over half the world's blind are in India.'' Mr. Strobino listed the principal causes of blindness as: lack of vitamins, poor hygiene and a lack of water.

"There are some people in the world who live their whole lives without washing their faces,'' he noted. "Education is also part of the SightFirst campaign.'' He also said that the Lions had "produced over 1000 professionals in their own countries''.

"These professionals not only go out and teach hygiene but some, though not physicians, have the capability to do cataract operations,'' he said, citing Indian "Dr.'' Modi as a case in point.

"Dr. (a courtesy title) Modi has devoted his life to doing cataract operations in India,'' Mr. Strobino said.

And the above are just some aspects of Lions' sight-related good works.

In Bermuda, Lions and Lionesses test all nursery school children for glaucoma, assist the Bermuda Society for the Blind, hold annual White Cane tag days, and collect used eye glasses for recycling in poor countries.

And Mrs. Amaral also chairs a Sight Conservation committee which helps hundreds of people in Bermuda, both financially and through referral assistance, with sight-related problems.

"The whole philosophy of Lions is people helping people,'' Mr. Strobino said.

"Although Lions do literally thousands of other things in communities, helping the visually impaired is the main thing the public perceives us as doing.'' Organisations or individuals wishing to contribute to the Lions SightFirst campaign before June 29 should contact Mr. Dudley Cottingham at 292-7478 (days) or 236-8155 (evenings).

MAKING A DIFFERENCE -- Mr. Otto Strobino, national co-ordinator for the Lions' SightFirst campaign, visited Bermuda to personally thank the local Lions and Lioness clubs' for their impressive contribution to the global initiative designed to eradicate preventable blindness in poor countries.