Xinhua selects world pictures of the year 2019

Sum Meyle receives a kiss from her daughter before a cataract operation at Kampong Cham Provincial Hospital in Kampong Cham, Cambodia, March 15, 2019. Sum Meyle, 36, is a single mother with five children. She had suffered from cataract after her left eye was injured, and almost lost her job as a safeguard in Phnom Penh because of the poor eyesight. On March 15, 2019, Meyle came to Kampong Cham when a friend told her that a team of Chinese doctors have been providing free eye treatment at a local hospital. Doctor Liang Hao of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University conducted a cataract operation for Meyle after a series of careful diagnoses. When the medical eye patch was removed the next day, Meyle's face was enlivened with joy: her left eye could see things again. "I don't know how to pay back for such kindness. The only thing I can do is to say thank you to the Chinese medical staff," says Meyle. "Without their help, there wouldn't be a new start in my life." (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)