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Thursday, 07 June 2018 12:32

Charlotte and I have been here at Zithulele with the Grace Vision programme for a few months now.

We have settled well into rural life in the Eastern Cape. We started in full flight with a busy time, in both the mobile clinic and school screenings. It also included a day of cataract surgery. I have seen many patients with severe eyecare needs.

Some days are very heart-warming, especially the days after cataract surgery to see people who were blind the day before, having sight for the first time in years! Other days are saddening when you attend to some patients who have been deprived of basic eyecare and have irreversible damage.

We saw a 21-year-old young man who has had such impaired vision that he would have been unable to read, let alone see anything half a metre in front of him. It was one of the worst cases of myopia (short sightedness) that I have ever seen in my 30-year career. Although disheartening to find someone who has been unable to see for most of his school life, it is also rewarding to be able to supply him with spectacles for the first time.

Some days are long and tiring, with lots of travelling on very rough and rugged dirt roads. Yet it’s always rewarding and worth it to know that you have just attended to people’s eyes that would have no eyecare due to their remote rural locations.

Charlotte and I are blessed to be working with an incredible team of dedicated people. We look forward to seeing many more lives impacted by God through Grace Vision.

Don Thorrold