by Lewis Swann | Jul 7, 2016 | Beth, Blog |
When we first started taking our ambulance into the village of Amlame, we EXPECTED to only spend three months there doing surgeries.
But there was more NEED there than we expected.
Now we have been there for nine months and the people are still coming! Every month we show up, there is a crowd of people in need. The crowd is always just as big as the last month. It is always beyond our expectations.
People come from far villages, some by feet, others by motos (motorcycles). When they are qualified for surgeries, they spend a week sleeping in our tents or in the hospital hall.
This month, we went to Amlame to do screenings and surgeries from June 29th to July 4th. We had two days of screening and we saw 230 patients. We performed surgery on 55 eyes this month and booked 40 patients for surgery for next month. The other patients either had glaucoma (which we treat with eyedrops instead of surgery) or they just needed eye care education.
The day after each surgery, our team did a post operation check up and then will do a one week post op on the 11th and then a one month post op after that. At the one day post op, all patients were able to see!
The donations from our supporters made these surgeries possible! Our patients have been blessed beyond their expectations because of you!
BEYOND EXPECTATIONS!
Has God ever exceeded your expectations? He certainly has for us!
We are constantly amazed at God’s work. We never expected to have an ambulance driving into the most rural part of Togo, but God did. We expected to get a huge truck donated to us, but God had different plans. We expected to be in Amlame for only three months and now we have been there for nine months and will keep going until the patients stop coming. Because of your generous donations, we are able to continually do these surgeries!
God continues to remind us that He is ultimately in control.
We expect that He will continue to exceed our expectations.
by Lewis Swann | Jun 30, 2016 | Beth, Blog |
While our American team celebrates freedom this 4th of July weekend, our team in Togo is celebrating freedom of sight!
They are back in the field performing fifty eye surgeries this weekend. We are so thankful for all the donations that have made these surgeries possible.
We have some amazing before and after photos and stories for you.
These are all patients from the last few months who have had their eyesight restored through our free program.
You think before and after pictures of weight loss are amazing? Before and after eye surgery is even better! Check out this before and after our patient named Anna. Can you believe that is the same person? She is 51 years old and went blind in both eyes a year ago. She was a farmer and had to stop farming because she could no longer see. She is so happy to have her life back!
This is Benjamin and he had cataracts in both eyes. He is a retired Catholic teacher. Now that he has had his sight restored, he says he is most excited about reading his ton of books again.
Meet Kodjo. He lost sight in his left eye three years ago due to cataracts. He was a farming teacher. When he started losing sight, he could no longer read or do research. Then he lost all of his trainees and could no longer work. Now, because of the free surgery Sight.org provides, he has his sight back and can do the work that he loves.
This is Pauline. She is 54 years old and has had a cataract for three years. She had her own business, but being blind in one eye made it very hard for her to sell merchandise. We praise Jesus that He enabled us to restore her sight!
This is Edo, the brother of Ramond, our team driver. Our whole team immediately considered him family since he was related to one of our team members. Everyone wanted to be around him because of his sweet, friendly spirit. He is 46 years old and has been blinded by a cataract in his left eye for three years. He was at the point where he could barely provide for his family. Now, he has his sight back and Edo and Ramond are so excited.
by Lewis Swann | Jun 15, 2016 | Blog, Rileys |
On Thursday, June 9th Wayne, Chris and I headed to Tsiko, which is three hours by car on the worst road ever. BUT, it had the most spectacular mountains that you ever did see! I love the trip down to Tsiko! In the last story we had on Chris, we asked for prayer for him as he had an enlarged spleen that needed to be removed ASAP.
We found out about the Baptiste Hospital in Tsiko, west of Atakpame. We heard about this hospital through the family that has asked us to live in their home! This hospital has been there for 35 years and has at least a dozen or more American doctors/surgeons that give the best quality healthcare in Togo!
We didn’t even have to make an appointment, we just showed up and got a consultation.
We mainly wanted to get a second opinion to make sure Chris had the care that he needs.
They ran several tests and got another echography.
They examined him well to find out the he does NOT need surgery after all.
We give God the glory for this answer as we know many people prayed for Chris!
We stayed the night in Tsiko in their guesthouse because the doctor said his level was low and needed a blood transfusion.
The campus is lovely and welcoming.
We ate and had Bible study with all the doctors.
God certainly has a group there that loves and serves the Lord with all their heart.
They put the Roman Road on the back of every patient card, so the gospel is being told to every person who comes through their doors. It was a blessing to meet and talk with them. We also know that Chris will receive the best care here at this hospital. We return in three months for his checkup. We continue to pray that he will have no problems.
We want to thank ALL who prayed because GOD answered some BIG prayers for Chris! Chris will always struggle with poor health due to his Sickle Cell Anemia, and we are committed to taking care of him, no matter what it takes.
If you would like to help support, feed, give daily medications, and help with healthcare for Chris, go to our Donate page.
By Elaine Riley, Sight.org missionary in Togo
by Lewis Swann | Jun 8, 2016 | Blog, Rileys |
So many changes in one month!
This was supposed to be our blog post for May, but we are officially on Africa time, so it is now our June post.
After being in Togo for three months without any breaks from the farm both Wayne and I got Malaria and was down for almost two weeks.
I had become very homesick and depressed.
Talk about the hardest thing for any mother, is having your youngest daughter deliver her first child and being across the world. God gave me abundant grace to walk through that! We got all the updates thanks to Facebook and got pics as if we were there. I would love to hold that little bundle though. He’s absolutely precious and we are grateful to the Lord for all the help everyone has given them! Thank you for loving on them for us!
Through all that, Lewis had suggested that we look at possibly moving into town with electricity and water to make things easier on us.
We thought about this for a couple weeks and felt that our French teacher, Joseph, whose family owns a store in the market place, would be our best resource in finding an apartment. We talked with him and in two days he had found a two-bedroom house that we went to look at Saturday (day before Mother’s Day). The only problem was it was new and not finished. It didn’t have plumbing or running water yet, but we decided to look at it.
We did not have a clear go from God on this house, so we prayed at church the next day that God would show us what to do or if this was not the house to open something else up.
Well, at 4:30 that afternoon our answered prayer came on a moto (motorcycle) to the farm. A Dutch woman named Wijneke with her little girl Nelina came and said that she had met Laurie in November. She felt the Holy Spirit telling her to come see us that day. We talked and she said that she was returning to Holland for a job and that she needed us to come live in her house! I told her that we had just looked at a house the day before.
She invited us to come eat lunch with her the next day because her husband Alex would be off work.
Wijneke’s house is a brand new four-bedroom home with two baths and it is two blocks from a school and hospital/clinic near the main highway in Togo! It has a fridge, microwave, electricity and running water! She will leave everything for our use: furniture, TV, kitchen stuff, etc.
We excitedly accepted her offer!
Not only did God provide a house but a car too!
A neighbor of Wijneke is a driving instructor and has many spare cars. Its ours to use until Feb 2017!
We expected to rent it but God had different plans.
God has been so good to us! Thank you for all your prayers, we are seeing God’s plan unfold before us.
The way God worked everything out definitely spelled out that this was a GOD thing.
We are grateful to Alex and Wijneke and their family for asking us to come live in their home. Alex is a Librarian in Atakpame but functions as a lay pastor in his church. He is waiting for his Visa to be able to join the rest of the family in Holland. Wijneke is an anesthesiologist and took their two children with her to Holland. Please pray for the changes this family will have to endure in the coming months having to be separated.
Written by: Elaine Riley
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by Lewis Swann | May 27, 2016 | Beth, Blog, Laurie |
Meet “John Doe.”
He got one of our free eye surgeries a few months ago.
Our Medical Team asked him what his name was, and he said, “John Doe.”
Laurie said, “Oh! There are many people on American television shows with that name.”
He said, “Yes, I know!”
He told our team that he only spoke English and French, and no Ewe (he tried so hard, but he really just spoke Ewe). He was very proud of his name and language ability, and we were happy to oblige. He always carried a briefcase with him everywhere he went and his big smile never left him!
After his surgery, he came back to visit our team every chance he could get, just to say thank you and give them hugs. We love John Doe!
