There is a presumption that the millennium development goals – agreed in 2000 to reduce poverty and increase living standards within 15 years – are a universally good thing. I believe that, but I am also concerned that they do not go far enough. One serious barrier to opportunity and equal treatment is often overlooked – disability.

This was reinforced in my own mind when I joined Sightsavers International (formerly the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind) on a visit to Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar. I was privileged to observe at first hand the work being done by those at the sharp end to reverse a culture of fear and exclusion, striving to give education and employment to disabled men and women – in this case, the blind and partially sighted.

Of course, if you are desperately poor and a woman, your battle for equality of opportunity will always be much greater. But if you are very poor, a woman and disabled, your chances of being able to use your talents to the full are dramatically reduced.

In Kenya, the postelection conflict has set back the chance of equality for disabled people as the country struggles to get itself back into business. In Tanzania, the average annual income is less than $600 (£400) a year. Yet what I found remarkable in the face of such adversity was the optimism and a love of life that puts us to shame. When I visited schools in both countries and saw the extraordinary and humbling efforts of single-handed teachers with well in excess of 40 in the primary classes, endeavouring to integrate blind children, with minimal equipment or training but with absolute dedication, I was touched by their sheer vitality and commitment.

Imagine being a teacher who discovers a girl of three, blinded by measles and, as far as her family were concerned, condemned to domestic isolation for the rest of her life. Then imagine this same girl, 18 years old, having been nurtured by a school that included blind youngsters long before the global campaign for education had been invented.

As the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille approaches, the simple need to make Braille texts available is taken for granted by those of us in the developed world, as is getting children to school. Sadly neither is readily available in sub-Saharan Africa – not for children from the slums of Nairobi nor, as I found when I visited earlier in the year, from the townships of South Africa. In Tanzania, with its commitment to universal primary education and with parliament set to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the dual emphasis of preventing blindness and fighting for equality of opportunity is not only a political challenge but a cultural one, too.

When talking to the parliamentarian representing those members of society born with what is now described as “albinism” and later to the prime minister of Tanzania, I was made to realise that we in the UK do not know we are born. Tanzania is struggling to eradicate the remnants of black magic, fostered by bandits from across the border. Murder and dismemberment are common against albinos; while I was there, a six-year-old girl had her arm chopped off as part of this nightmare. People are coerced into believing such actions will bring them good health. We need to give every backing to the Tanzanian government to combat this horror.

On the positive side we can be proud that our contribution through the Department for International Development and the work of agencies such as Sightsavers is genuinely making a difference. What is taking place is quite remarkable. We visited a clinic in one of the arid areas now settled by the once nomadic Masai, reached only by four-wheel-drive vehicles along a rocky river bed that briefly becomes a torrent when the rains come. These are the rains that the Masai once followed when they were predictable within two or three days. They are now not predictable within two or three months. We visited a developing school which, as well as providing education, was involved in teaching children and their families that washing faces and hands can prevent trachoma. A staggering 70% of blindness is preventable by such basic measures, or by regular attendance at clinics where medicines to combat river blindness are provided free by the pharmaceutical companies that produce them.

Whether it is collection and storage of water, providing a writing frame for a disabled youngster or basic computer software for university students, together we can transform the chances of those for whom this global financial crisis could mean the end of their hopes and dreams. That is why the government’s pledge to maintain our commitment to international development and the continuing giving of time and cash by individuals, businesses and communities in these difficult financial times are so important.

As Christmas approaches, why not let this be the year to ask for a gift not for ourselves but for those whose world can be transformed by so little, given by those of us who relatively have so much?

To make a donation to Sightsavers International call 0800 089 2020

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