Happy Easter and Merry Godspell to you, too!

So, first of all...my apologies to those of you that look forward to my weekly updates for your a) entertainment, my condolences or b) reassurance that we are still alive - we are.  Last week was more unusual than most for a number of reasons. 

First big news is the follow up on Peter's junket to East Texas.  He is now back and we were able to talk each day that he was gone so I got regular updates on how hard they all were working on the new ship design.  From the very outset he was impressed with how well thought out everything was and how knowledgeable everyone of the committee members were.  It was good to know that such a costly meeting was not a waste of time.  He was also able to accomplish all of his errands for me and the others in the crew that gave him shopping lists.  Since I'm now an official ship's driver I was able to sign up to go to the airport to pick him up on Monday night, too.  Since the trip was not that long and he is such a good traveller he's bounced back and gotten back to Africa time in almost no time.

Since the other two non-surgical docs on board had to cover the call Peter missed when he was gone it's no surprise that this weekend we are hanging out on board so he can take care of all the patients over this long holiday weekend as the call doc. 

So - yes!  Happy Holy Week!  Happy Easter to everyone.  Easter on the Africa Mercy is a real experience and there are many opportunities to really meditate on what it meant for God to become incarnate and live among us and really experience all that life challenges us with. I've been reading a book about Mother Theresa that has really challenged me to think what missionary work is really all about.  The reason she and her missionaries lived in the slums of Calcutta with the poorest of the poor was she knew that by becoming one of the poor people she could actually reach them and show them who Jesus is and in that way some would be eternally transformed.  That's how Jesus came to live among us, to suffer as one of us and show us the way to eternal salvation. 

Seeing her life and His sacrifice makes our life here on an air conditioned boat with running water and flushing toilets and three meals a day prepared for us - not much of a sacrifice in truth.  I hope that whatever little we are able to do for the unfortunate here will help them and that it glorifies God. 

Likewise - we are hopeful that our thrown together production of Godspell last night brought a smile to a few faces and ultimately glorified the one who inspired the songs in the show.  It ended up being fun and people generously praised our efforts but after three weeks of almost non-stop rehearsals I'm quite grateful that it is in the past!  Hopefully in the next few weeks some pictures will surface and I can share a few.  My fear is that some of it may wind up on You Tube and I'll have to wear a brown bag on my head for the rest of time! 

The last two weeks we've had our marketing / media folks join us on our eye team adventures so there are many more pictures of my daily adventures so back to eye team stories, I guess.

So I've told about the process the team goes thru in the past but alot of these professionally done pictures are so nice I wanted to be sure and share them with you.

Nurse Keli shades a patient's eyes to check for cataracts

 Keli here on the left uses a clipboard to shade the eyes of one of the many patients she checks outdoors for the presence of cataracts.  She does an amazing job for several reasons.  Eyes should always be checked indoors to enhance pupillary response.  Not only does the bright sunlight of Africa make this difficult but ALL of these folks have very dark, brown eyes making any contrast between the pupil and iris difficult to see even in good conditions. 

Tosseau follows along with Keli to interpret for her, telling the patients to stand up, where to look and let her know what their problems with their eyes may be.  If they have a cataract or something else she thinks we could evaluate indoors Tosseau give them a small, laminated numbered card that gives them entrance to our indoor screening site.  There is a guard at the door to make sure no one without a ticket gets in.  He's also the one that gets to explain why Mercy Ships is limited in what few things we can do for people on this outreach give our limited resources.  It is common for her to screen between 500 and 1000 people at these screening venues. 

We see alot of children at each screening.  Some of them have surgical problems but most just have either irritated or infected eyes - like most kids.  Unlike most kids - these poor little people have never been seen by any sort of eye doctors so we can use the time to give them educational materials as well as sunglasses to hopefully protect their eyes from the very punishing, bright sunlight here in West Africa.  Many of the cataracts and other eye diseases we see could be prevented or at least delayed with some preventive measures like simply wearing sunglasses! 


Here is a young girl and probably her mother sporting brand new, UV protective sunglasses and smiles on their faces!  We are grateful to the companies that generously donate these glasses for us to distribute!

Here is a good looking family that came to the screening with their two daughters.  I don't think we found anything surgically correctable on this little girl's eye but I think she is so cute and it's such a nice picture I had to share it with you!

This darling little girl is only three months old but has congenital cataracts in both eyes.  This is extremely common here.  It might have a genetic component, sometimes it's due to infections the mom has while pregnant but I've also read it can be due to extreme dehydration in the mom while pregnant.  I find this very, very easy to believe since it is barely April and the temps are getting into the 100's with very high humidity.  The screening days are getting more and more uncomfortable - I can't imagine being pregnant in this weather.  I'm sure most of these moms are dehydrated. 

In addition to eye patients we often have people with other medical problems show up at the screening site.  This is probably where I come in the most handy on the team as I can usually put a name of what the problem is or at least come up with some medical jargon to describe what's happening with the patient.  We take pictures and contact information and then call the patient to be screened back at the ship if we have a surgeon that has the skill set to help the person.  This is always very gratifying to have a hand in getting someone plugged into the system before we end up leaving in June. 

This is Kris - the tech team coordinator helping to get this family the information they need to come to the ship for their daughter's cleft lip surgery.  Kris coordinates all the team's activities both at the ship and out in the field.  She's only 24 and hopes to go to medical school next year so we're praying that she gets accepted! 

 Inside the venue we have interpreters that help fill out paperwork for the patients so that we can get ahold of them in the future if need be.  Not an easy task as most have no phones or real address!

Inside we have a few examination machines - this is an autorefractor that will give an estimate of a person's refractive error if they have eyesight good enough for a glasses prescription.

Here we have our optical technician.  He is a local Togolese man that we had to hire from the Health Ministry as we had a 7 week gap in volunteers!  Usually there is an optometrist that does the in depth eye exams both in the field and at the tent.  He confirms that cataracts are operable and also diagnoses other eye problems and for some dispenses medication.  Unfortunately he is not an Optometrist so I sort of keep a close eye on him as he sometimes does some things that might be beyond his scope of practise so.....

And....since these folks are blind I do alot of patient escorting as there are many stations they have to travel thru and multiple opportunities for them to trip and fall.       Finally, for those that make it all the way thru the field screening gauntlet they see Christianne for their appointment date to come back to the eye tent on the dock outside the ship for their secondary screening appointment.  Of the 500 - 1000 or so patients that show up we will see a few hundred inside and schedule 50 -100 for closer evaluation back at the tent.  We aim to perform surgery on 500 - 700 patients during this 5 month field service.  We of course could do more if we had more ophthalmologists volunteer since we have the OR space so keep this in mind as you remember to pray for Mercy Ships.  Finally, here is a delighted lady clutching her "golden" or rather Pink ticket allowing her to come into the port to see us in a few days for further screening. 

So, there you have field screening - again!  Hopefully next week will be a bit more interesting and have some Godspell in it.  I might be able to find some pictures from the first two YAG laser surgery days we've had thus far where we celebrate these people regaining their sight.  It is an awesome display of thankfulness and gratitude. 

Hope you all have had a blessed Easter and have had an opportunity to reflect on the awesome sacrifice made for our salvation and eternal life with Him.  Hallelujah!  He is Risen Indeed!