πππ Togo Mission Trip: πππ This young 11 years old boy blind with bilateral cataracts has been waiting all his life for a doctor to operate on him. Dr. Kondrot performed bilateral cataract removal both on the same day because he needs to be under general anesthesia so we donβt want to risk multiple sessions of him in the operating room. Surgery went well with no complication. Here he is one day post-op. He is still very groggy from anesthesia and he also needs to get accustomed to the light and seeing again.
His parents are very happy. πππIn a few days he will be running around playing soccer and going to school like all the kids his age.
He has a brighter future now.
We are sure we when we come back to Togo in a few years we will get to see a handsome happy young man with a bright future!
What a great outcome for him. We canβt ask for anything better. Β πβ€οΈππ§‘ππ§‘
Togo Mission Trip: visual acuity testing
πππTogo Mission Trip: visual acuity testing in Togo, Africa.
This woman was blind yesterday. Today is her one day post-op, she just got her eye patch taken out and she is reading to the last line on the eye chart. She earned an applause from her graduating class as she walks up by herself to pick up her paper chart from our technician who is doing the visual acuity test!
What an amazing life changing event for her. She can now start her new life. We are so happy for her.
Independent. Free to do what she wants. She says she was a farmer. Sheβs going back to farming again to feed her family!
We are so happy to be of help to her. One more family will have a better life because we were here in Togo, Africa. ππππ§‘πβ€οΈπ
Post operative patients in Togo Africa
πππ Mission Trip to Togo Africa: this is the scene of a typical post-op session in Togo, Africa. All the patients sit on benches under the large tree to get some shade. They still have their patches on. Some of them have shoes and some donβt. When they get tired they just lay themselves right on the dirt floor. It is very hot outside under the sun but these patients are very happy. Very chatty. They are eagerly awaiting the removal of their eye patches so they can see again!
Itβs very fun and uplifting as every single person is very excited for this moment. Most them are blind before their surgery. Many of them have bilateral cataracts.
Another great and exciting day in Togo Africa. πππβ€οΈππ§‘π
Happy Surgical Results in Togo!
ππππHappy day in Togo: A blind woman is so happy she can see so clear one day after surgery. She says she can not see anything before and now itβs so clear. Everything is so clear. She is so happy!!! Blessed her heart!
Itβs a happy day in Togo as patients are singing and dancing after their patches are removed.
Many thanks to Dr. Kondrot and his continued effort to bring new eye sight to the blind in Togo, Africa.
Togo update: Perfect Vision- right Eye one day post op.Β
We canβt ask for anything better than this. She reads all the way to the last line on the eye chart immediately after her bandages are removed one day after surgery.
We so very happy for this young woman who needs her eye sight restore so she can take care of her 11 month old daughter!πβ€οΈ
π§‘πβ€οΈπ Togo Africa: 23 years old mother went blind while pregnant with this child.
The mother has not seen her daughterβs face since she was born. Her surgery is scheduled in a day or two with Dr. Kondrot. We canβt wait for her to see her daughterβs face for the first time. God bless both of them, mother and daughter! We are blessed to be here to be part of this heart warming event. With love, from Togo, Africa.
πβ€οΈππ§‘
Find out more about Dr. Kondrot Mission work at www.healingtheeye.com
Arrived to LomΓ©, Togo at 10 PM
πππ We left Tampa on the 6 AM flight βοΈ Saturday morning and arrived to LomΓ©, Togo at 10 PM Sunday night local timeπ. A very long 2 weekend day journey from Florida to Africa. π«
Immediately after disembarking from the aircraft, we must go through a checkpoint facing an infrared camera for our body temperature readingπ₯. All passengers also must have proof of yellow fever vaccination. If you fail either test, you are back on the plane to go home!βοΈ
Then we line up to retrieve our visa.
All our equipment and supplies arrived safely. No lost baggage. π
We breeze through custom without any issue. A big sigh of reliefπ. I have all my paperwork ready to show the custom officers as I have been forewarned that they might stop us and ask us to pay taxes on the supplies we are bringing into the country. So far we have been very lucky π with all our mission trips, having never been stopped and detained by custom yet π. We hope our lucky streak continues!
We meet Meza, our in country local coordinator, right outside the arrival door.π€
We load our bags π§³πΌ and head out π to a nearby hotel for some rest.
Destination: LomΓ©, Togo, Africa.
It will take us 2 days to get to LomΓ©, π« where will have our eye π camp in a local hospital for 10 days. While we are flying over, the team in country has already started screening people for eye surgeries. πππ Without any announcement yet, they already lined up more than 100 cases of adult surgeries and 5 pediatric surgeries. πππ Here are a few pictures of the team in Togo working hard at screening patients for us. πππ
Getting ready for Togo Africa!
βοΈπΒ Our bags are packed. We are ready to go on our trip to Togo, Africa on Saturday February 9! Here is Dr. Kondrot getting a number of mandatory shots before we can begin working in the hospital in Africa. Yellow fever, TB test, Hep A and Hep B, tetanus, diphtheria, MMR, long list of other shots but we wonβt be allowed to work in the hospital unless we have all our shots. Itβs mandatory for all surgeons in the operating rooms.
We are now ready to go!
Much gratitude for our first major donor to the Restore Vision Foundation!
Tuken Tanaevich and his son Kairat has given us a very generous donation to fund our trip to Togo Africa. This donation will help to restore the vision of 200 patients. We are grateful for this very kind gesture. Many people in Togo will see again and have a new life thanks to your support for our work.