Our mission
How Sight.org began
After three years living on a hospital ship off the coast of West Africa, Lewis Swann felt God was calling him into lifelong service. Lewis asked for his calling, and God immediately responded, “Go to Peter.” At the time, Peter Dossou was an African pastor Lewis barely knew. Then one day, Lewis asked, “Peter, what is your calling?” Peter responded, “Two years ago, I dreamt I was in a rural part of Africa, surrounded by blind people asking for their sight. As I woke, God said, ‘Go to the rural villages, give sight to the blind, and share the gospel.'”
In 2012, Lewis and Peter set out with very little money and no credentials. Today, Sight.org is the leading eye program in Togo, and the gospel expands everywhere they go.
Why so many in Togo are blind
In Sub-Saharan Africa, cataracts are the leading cause of blindness.
In Togo, thousands have cataracts so dense that the only thing they can see is the flash of a flashlight shining in their eyes. Primarily due to malnutrition and the tropical sun, the progression of cataracts is so fast that many who develop cataracts are blind within months. Cataracts still mainly affect the older generation, but many blind are young children as early as the womb.
Further adding to the problem, for most people in Togo, the means to get surgery is virtually nonexistent. A farmer who seldom handles money would have to leave their village, often for the first time, to a city hundreds of miles away. They would need to come up with several hundred dollars for transportation, surgery, housing, food, etc. Due to this enormous challenge, one out of 20 people in rural villages is blind, and many have been in this condition for decades.
The difficulty of blindness
In Africa, if a person can’t see, they can’t work.
When our work began in 2012, we discovered how dire blindness can be. As one man said, “I have no wife, I have no children; who is going to take care of me?” Fortunately for this man, he was only partly blind and could still farm. But within a few months, blindness would have overtaken his sight, and he did not know how he would manage. For those fortunate enough to have support, it is often at the cost of a child not receiving an education as they spend their days tending to their blind relative. The most common challenge is the financial toll. As they say in Africa, “no eyes, no hands.” So, for people already living well below the poverty line, blindness results in economic disaster. As if deeper poverty was not dire enough, this region of Africa is heavily voodoo and witchcraft—so many blind people are viewed as cursed and ostracized.
How we give sight
With a simple 15-minute surgery and a single night to heal, a person trapped in a prison of blindness is set free.
The greatest challenge for Togo, however, is the access. That’s where Sight.org stepped in. With the backing of donors, we set out to take the doctors to rural Togo, eliminating the obstacles that resulted in thousands of blind people being unable to access medical care. Many waited for decades, blind and wholly dependent on others, until one day, they heard a group called Sight.org had arrived in their village.
How we share the gospel
After surgery, we tell our patients about Jesus, how He changed our lives and gave us hearts to help his people, and that they can now see because of His love for them.
Our pastors then travel to the patient’s homes to share the gospel with the patients and their families. The patients then introduce us to the chiefs, and the chiefs enable us to share the gospel with the entire village. We connect new believers with a local church, and if there is no local church, we start a church.
Other life-changing impacts
Surgical training
Helping to broaden the impact and invest in the next generation of doctors, we help train new doctors to be proficient in surgery.
Eyeglasses
Our on-staff optometrist can prescribe and distribute eyeglasses, significantly increasing people’s quality of life.
Volunteer nurses
Many people come to us with infections, burns, and a multitude of other health problems. When we have volunteer nurses, we can help.
Agriculture training
With our 20-acre farm and farming experts, we train farmers in organic high-production techniques to help improve life and increase nutrition.
Women's empowerment
We often find women who are ostracised. For some of them, we help them thrive where they are. For others, we offer community and refuge on our farm.