by Lewis Swann | Nov 27, 2017 | Blog |
Because of you, there is a little girl named Katawayna who can now go back to school.
Katawayna is ten years old and was blind in her right eye from a cataract. She had stopped going to school because she couldn’t see her work.
Katawayna’s father did everything possible to get help for his daughter. He went to every doctor he knew. He spent so much money trying to get medicine for her eye that he was broke.
Then he heard about Sight.org.
To his delight, the Sight.org medical team checked Katawayna’s eyes and scheduled her surgery.
A few weeks later, Katawayna’s and her father arrived at the Sight.org mobile eye clinic.
The day of her surgery, her father was so excited that he showed up early. He wanted to help in any way he could. He even offered to help translate for the team. He spent the whole day helping the Sight.org team.
He couldn’t hide his gratitude.
At 1:30 that afternoon, Katawayna stepped into the mobile eye clinic. Her father stopped what he was doing to help her into the vehicle.
Then he waited.
He stared at the back doors of the clinic, nervously, wondering.
Thirty minutes later, the doors opened, and out walked his daughter, with a patch over her right eye.
Twenty-four hours later, the patch was removed, and she could see everything perfectly!
She is now back in school!
Katawayna’s father wants to say thank you for giving his daughter her sight back.
This Christmas, will you give sight to someone like Katawayna?
We have a goal of raising $41,250 by December 31st. This will provide eye surgeries for the next six months. So far, we have raised $31,081 of the $41,250. Will you be a part of reaching this goal?
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by Lewis Swann | Jul 20, 2017 | Blog, Lewis |
In Africa, challenges are not always what they seem.
As you may have read, this entire year, we are serving in the region of Elavagnon in Togo.
At the beginning of this year, you were asked to start praying for this region.
We knew from the beginning, that this region would be the biggest challenge Sight.org has ever faced.
The needs in this region are immense.
We have been serving this region for six months now. We now know the reason there are so many needs. It’s not the reason we originally thought.
Lewis Swann, founder of Sight.org is in Togo this month. He is seeing Elavagnon with his own eyes. He sent the following story to illustrate the reason for so many needs.
“When I arrived to Togo, Africa, I immediately traveled five hours north to join the medical team to perform fifty eye surgeries in a region called Elavagnon.
This region is known as the place where “no charities go.”
At least, that is what we were told by the Ministry of Health in Togo.
When the team arrived, they met 400+ people suffering from various eye diseases and blindness.
Based on the sheer numbers, it was obvious that eye care had not been there.
The team quickly selected the fifty patients for surgery, and many more were put on a waiting list for next month’s surgical outreach.
At face value, this region appeared very similar to others that we had served. However, we have met more challenges here than we usually face.
Our Togo Director, Meza, told me the Ministry of Health’s reason for why charities do not go to Elavagnon.
And that reason? Witches.
He expressed that no charity, not even secular charities, choose to work in Elavagnon. The area is known for witches and demonic practices.
The charities that try to serve here always fail in their mission.
The Ministry of Health was shocked to hear that our mission is going very well in Elavagnon.
But we do not go empty handed.
We come with a God much bigger than witchcraft, and our God is a God who loves witches…a lot!
Since we started working in Elavagnon, we have restored sight to hundreds of blind people and we have even started a church that is thriving with new believers, many of whom left witchcraft.
We don’t have to fear, and our best weapon is love.”
Please continue to pray for the region of Elavagnon.
You are making a difference in the lives of these people when you pray, not just physically, but also spiritually.
Pray against Satan’s attacks. Pray for the brand new house church that has been established there. The new believers face opposition from the enemy and from fellow villagers who do not know Jesus.
They are also experiencing a lot of physical problems aside from the numerous eye diseases.
There are two nurses, Helen Clark and Naomi Swann, on the volunteer team this week.
They are doing medical clinics alongside the eye surgery team. Hundreds of people are coming each day to get checked by the nurses.
There are hospitals and doctors in this region, but most people do not have the money to pay for medical help.
Normally, when people come to our team with non-eye related problems, there is nothing our eye surgery team can do for them.
Since there are nurses on our volunteer team this week, people can come and get free medical help.
Please pray for the volunteer team and the eye surgery team. It can be overwhelming to see so much need.
God is doing a mighty work in this region and we are so excited that you get to be a big part of that.
Lewis was able to do several Facebook Live videos this week in Togo. You don’t want to miss these!
Volunteer Team (Helen, Steve, and Naomi)
Medical Clinic
Interview with eye patient
New Believers
by Lewis Swann | Jun 12, 2017 | Beth, Blog |
This man brought his wife to our medical team to get her eyes checked.
She had to wait all day until surgeries were over. As she waited, her husband sat to the side patiently, holding their baby.
When the baby was hungry, he would let his wife feed and then he would hold the baby again.
He had such a sweet, quiet spirit.
When his wife got her eyes checked and found out that she had already lost her sight in one eye from glaucoma and was slowly losing sight in her other eye, he held her hand and silently prayed.
He was a hard working teacher who obviously loved his wife and children. We all continue to pray for this family.
Read their whole story to see how you can pray for them too at https://sight.org/2016/03/elizabeth/.
Give sight for Father’s Day.
by Lewis Swann | Jun 1, 2017 | Beth, Blog |
Last week, it was one thing after another.
Lack of funds for surgeries.
Bank transfer fail.
Being forced to get supplies in one day instead of the normal three days.
Electricity going off in the ambulance during surgeries.
We were sitting in our comfortable office chairs here in Texas, but we could feel the stress in Togo, from 6,000 miles away. This was not our easiest round of surgeries.
Several times throughout the week, we thought about canceling this round of surgeries. It just seemed like everything was against them.
Every time we talked about canceling, we immediately said no.
These eye surgeries are a doorway to the gospel.
We love giving sight to the blind. It is amazing to experience people go from blind to sight in twenty-four hours. But more than that, we love that these eye surgeries open a door for the love and truth of Jesus to be shared.
Many people who come to us are from a Voodoo or Muslim background. They have no interest in hearing about Jesus, until the lives of fifty blind people in their region are completely changed over the span of three days.
After that, everyone in the village is willing to listen to the word of God.
That is when the real miracles happen.
That is when real life change happens.
And that is when the church continues to grow.
Last weekend, in spite of so many challenges, we didn’t have to say no to this round of eye surgeries. Our dedicated supporters and prayer partners said yes to fifty life changing eye surgeries.
17-year-old Atakpa got her sight back this weekend. She has had a cataract since she was a child, but her family didn’t have money to go to the hospital. Last week Atakpa’s mother heard about Sight.org from a friend so they decided to come for help.
She said, “Please help me to get my sight back, I want to go back to school.”
Atakpa wants to thank everyone who gave to Sight.org to make her surgery possible. She says, “May God bless you.”
A grandma named Bluyema also got her sight back. She was a rice seller but she stopped selling because of her age. For the last 4 years, she has had a cataract. This cataract was preventing her from doing what she really loves, and that is taking care of her grandchildren.
This is what she said before her surgery, “I love playing with my grandchildren, I love watching them playing around me. But since I got this cataract, I can’t take care of them. Please help me to get back my sight, so I can see and play with them again before I die”
And now, Bluyema can see her grandchildren again!
After all the eye surgeries were performed, the team took the patches off the patients’ eyes. As they all realized that they could see, the newly sighted Africans broke out in song and worship. Jeanaway stood in the middle of the patients, leading them to praise Jesus for their sight. Just last year, this 17-year old got his sight back and is now serving on the Sight.org team as a ministry leader.
When you give to Sight.org, you are not just giving sight to the blind. You are also giving them the love and truth of Jesus. You open the door for the gospel.
This week, you are hearing stories of the big beautiful door of eye surgeries. Next week, you will get to walk through that door and enter the house. You will get to hear stories of what God is doing in baby Christians in the house church in the village of Landa.
by Lewis Swann | May 4, 2017 | Beth, Blog |
This Mother’s Day, you can give sight to a mom in Togo, Africa.
Meet Api.
She is a 21 year old mother.
She had a cataract in her left eye, so she came to our Sight.org mobile eye clinic for help.
She was able to get eye surgery through our free clinic. Now she is able to take care of her baby again.
She is now able to work again and do what she needs to do for her family.
Imagine how different your life would look if you lost your sight. Now imagine that you are a young mother living in rural Africa and you have lost your sight.
In Togo, cataracts don’t just affect the elderly. Women and men of all ages can be affected by cataracts, just like Api, who is only 21.
When a mother in Togo loses her eyesight, everyone around her is affected. Her husband and children are affected.
The mother of the family takes care of everyone. But when she loses her eyesight, someone now has to take care of her.
Even if she loses sight in just one eye, everything she does is altered. Cooking becomes more difficult. Cleaning becomes more difficult. Playing with her baby becomes more difficult.
This Mother’s Day, give the gift of sight.
For $12.50 a month or one donation of $150, you can give sight to a mom just like Api.
You will change her life and her baby’s life.
