This past June, my colleague Dr. Tosin Smith and I had a wonderful week at the Lighthouse for Christ Mission in Mombasa, Kenya. This was my sixth trip to the mission over the past 16 years, and the first trip to Mombasa for Dr. Smith. Dr. Matende had prepared for our arrival by assembling dozens of patients who were in need of subspeciality eye care, including corneal transplant surgery and glaucoma surgery. We carried with us 20 donated corneas from U.S. eyebanks that allowed us to restore vision to many patients who were blind from corneal disease. Dr. Smith performed sight saving glaucoma surgery on many adults and children.
Our most memorable patient was a 9 month old baby girl, who was born with cloudy corneas and glaucoma in both eyes. I was able to provide the child with a new cornea in her right eye, and Dr. Smith performed glaucoma surgery in her left eye. Both surgeries were successful and this child now has at least a fighting chance to see. All of the surgery we performed during our time at the mission requires close follow up care in order to succeed, and we are so grateful for the continued care provided to these patients by Dr. Matende and his colleagues at the mission.
I am honored to continue to serve our mission as a board member, and I am pleased to report that our mission is strong and continues to accomplish a great work in East Africa. Our staff and doctors in Mombasa are highly skilled, hard working, and committed to the ongoing mission of “healing spiritual and physical blindness on the east coast of Africa”. With that said, now more than ever, our mission needs and deserves our prayers and our financial gifts. Please join me in this effort and lets all work together to provide our mission with the resources they need to continue to grow God’s Kingdom.