The first ever winner of the Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize, Dr Helena Ndume, shed tears of joy as she touched down at Hosea Kutako International Airport yesterday. Last Friday, Dr Ndume – together with the former president of Portugal, Jorge Fernando Branco Sampaio – were the first ever recipients of the Mandela Prize at the UN Headquarters in New York. An ophthalmologist, Dr Ndume is known for charitable work among sufferers of eye-related illnesses. To date she has assisted some 30,000 blind Namibians to get eye surgery and be fitted with intra-ocular lenses free of charge. She currently heads the Ophthalmology Department at Windhoek Central Hospital. “This is not my award. It belongs to all Namibians. Everyone has contributed in a way to making this programme a success and I have to thank the Namibian government, my family and everybody, especially the Blindness Prevention Programme, for a job well done. I’m also thankful to Nahas Angula and Dr Libertina Amathila, who gave me direction. Now I’m changing people’s lives.”.