Friday, April 13, 2012

A Day in the Life of an OLMC Mission Team....

The following was an update received from Mission leader Theresa Anderson on day 3 of the eye-mission:


"Bonjour - Sorry I have not been able to get internet. We had to drive to to another location to get connected. Yesterday we travelled 3 hours or so to our destination of Petite Riviere. The drive was very moving for all of us as we made our way through the massive city of Port Au Prince and drove along the coast through several towns and many sights hard to describe. We arrived at St. Antoine Church without any trouble and set up our eye clinic in the church. The Lions trained us novice eye assistants and then we had dinner at the rectory and enjoyed a beautiful evening on the roof of the rectory.I have never seen so many stars in my life. Today we had the first day of the eye clinc. We saw about 200 patients, mostly adults today. All were fitted wth eye glasses. It was heart warming to see the patients faces light up after trying several pair of glasses, you could tell by their expressions when we the correct prescription was found. I fitted a 60 year old lady with a - 5 prescription (very near sighted) who had never had a pair of glasses and she suddenly could see details she had never seen before . What a great thing to witness. Marene was helping another lady and asked her i she sewed. The woman said she used to but didn't any more. Marene gave her her glasses and a needle and thread, and you should have seen the smile on her face.Such a rewarding mission, to see their faces light up. The Lions men are great and their experience is so extensive. Between them, they have done over 75 of these mission but they still give each patient all the time and care needed to find the right pair of glasses. Their compassion for this mission is inspiring.
Everyone is doing well. We are having a great time and got to play with some of the local kids after the clinic was done.
It looks like it is going to be difficult to get internet access, so don't worry if you don't hear from us for a few days. We are fine and our guides are taking very good care of us.
Also, excuse any typos above. I forgot to bring my reading glasses with me and can hardly see what I'm typing (I know, a bit ironic since I'm on an eye mission and there are hundreds of reading glasses back at the church. Smile)

All is well.

Theresa"