"I will never close my eyes again," he said dramatically, after his eye patches were removed this morning. Such was the statement from a 7 year old boy that had cataract surgery done yesterday. (A different but similar boy is pictured above; the 7 year old was about this size too, though.) I (Wendy) and Kevin, a visiting ophthalmologist, each operated on one of the boy's eyes yesterday. When the child said these words today, it was in a native language that had to be translated to another language, Fon, which was translated to French, and finally to English....But we think that is in fact what he said. He did have a pretty big smile on his face to corroborate this, although I think he was also enjoying the attention of the people all around him :) . He will have some degree of amblyopia (permanent poor vision) because he did not have this surgery done at an earlier age, but we hope he will still reap permanent benefits from the surgery. Bilateral congenital cataracts like this in a child can be caused by hereditary disease, infection, metabolic disorders, and sometimes we just don't know why....An estimated 25,920 people here in Benin are blind from cataracts 
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10906974), the vast majority being older adults. Mercy Ships' goal is to do 3,000 cataract surgeries (among other types of general and ophthalmic surgery) during their 11 months here in port in Cotonou, Benin. As a result, the idea is to do 25 cataract surgeries per day, 4 days a week. So far, the only problem with this is the overwhelming need.... The first level of screening of patients that is performed is done by the eye field unit team, who also sees patients 4 days a week. But...they are seeing 500-700 patients a day (!). And with only 3-4 people trained in eyes, plus 5-10 translators, this is a difficult task indeed. They have been signing up 60-90 patients per day for cataract surgery. This picture above was taken on a normal day for them.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10906974), the vast majority being older adults. Mercy Ships' goal is to do 3,000 cataract surgeries (among other types of general and ophthalmic surgery) during their 11 months here in port in Cotonou, Benin. As a result, the idea is to do 25 cataract surgeries per day, 4 days a week. So far, the only problem with this is the overwhelming need.... The first level of screening of patients that is performed is done by the eye field unit team, who also sees patients 4 days a week. But...they are seeing 500-700 patients a day (!). And with only 3-4 people trained in eyes, plus 5-10 translators, this is a difficult task indeed. They have been signing up 60-90 patients per day for cataract surgery. This picture above was taken on a normal day for them.
On a more personal level, I've just passed over 100 cataract surgeries in this first month on board the ship! (To be exact, the 7 year old boy above was #101.) I'm very content with this cataract surgery technique that I'm learning here (the manual small incision extracapsular cataract surgery, or MSICS technique), and am so thankful to God for providing me with this training opportunity at just the right time in our lives. ("For such a time as this," as Esther said.... What is impossible with man is possible with God, down to His perfect timing.) It has also been rewarding to be involved in training four local ophthalmologists in this technique, and to see their enthusiasm - "this will be so good for Africa," one said, with a big grin. And I couldn't be learning from anyone better than my fellowship mentor, Dr. Glenn Strauss. .
So what is Eric doing, you might ask? Well, for the first week he was in the thick of organizing the transport of patients from an off-site secondary screening building to the ship for their surgeries. Walking patients up and down the long gangway gave him a working understanding of just how blind these patients really are. But after this process became more automated, he has been making crew members' days by revamping spreadsheets. He has also been helping with supplies management for the various eye clinics, which I hope will be good experience that he can share with me when we do this ourselves in Gabon in the near future. It's hard to believe, but Eric leaves for Gabon in just 2-1/2 weeks! He has to leave a month before me, due to an urgent need for his help with the budget of the hospital.
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We hope this good Friday finds you blessed with a deeper relationship with Jesus....this Jesus who chose to die on a cross to pay the full price for the sins of all who will receive him, who was sent by God to "preach the gospel to the poor....And [proclaim] recovery of sight to the blind." (Luke 4:18)
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