πππ Togo Mission Trip: πππ
Amazing news: this 8 years old boy was born blind. He also can not speak and can not hear. He lives in total darkness and silence all his life.
He has been waiting all these long years for a doctor to do surgery so he can at least see to bring some light π₯πβοΈ to his world.
Dr. Kondrot operated on him yesterday to remove bilateral cataracts in both eyes and repair his eyes with other issues.π
Today, one day post-op, here he is seeing for the first time.πππ
It is amazing to watch him. πππ
We are so happy for him. He expression is priceless.
We take our eyesight π for granted, until we watch this boy blind since birth and seeing clearly for the first time. Itβs so amazing.
Please watch the video. We want to share this with you.
Our work today has touched his life in a profound way. We hope and pray that he has a better quality of life with his new eyesight.
Imagine the transformation in his life now: he can walk by himself, he can be more independent, he can join other kids to play soccer, he can learn sign language, he can learn to read, go to school, a whole new life has opened up for him.
We could not ask for a better result. His eyes are so clear itβs hard to believe he just had 2 operations done just one day ago.
His name is Epiphany, which means a sudden illuminating discovery or realization. For many Christians, Epiphany refers to the manifestation of the Divine Nature of Jesus.
In a few more days as Epiphany begins to get used to his new eyesight, we will have a happy boy running and smiling as he starts to live his new life.
Itβs a happy day here in Togo as we celebrate many more blind children and adults regain their eyesight when we do our post-op bandage removal.
With love from Togo Africa. π§‘β€οΈππβ€οΈπ§‘ππ
Togo Mission Trip: accommodation of the medical team
πππ Togo Mission Trip: accommodation of the medical team on the ground at the Tohoun Hospital. The team sleeps in tents. We have one tent for the cook Acoo. π©πΏβπ³ She cooks breakfast of omelettes. Lunch: rice and chicken in tomatoes sauce. Dinner: rice and chicken in tomatoes sauce. Itβs been the same menu for 7 days now. We are not sure why. It must be the way she feeds us foreigners.
For the local team members she makes other things. I keep telling myself I am going to check out their food but we are so busy I have no time to look. They eat in the cookβs tent. We have one tent with a table to rest from the scorching sun. βοΈβοΈβοΈItβs very hot here. 100 degrees π₯π₯π₯the past several days. When I get a picture of what the local team eat I will post them.
The chicken here are so thin. There is hardly any meat. Mostly bones. So for every meals we just get some rice and pour some tomatoes sauce on the rice to eat.
There is absolutely no vegetables or fresh salad to be had.
We work very long days and are so tired at night we just eat some rice with the red tomatoes sauce and catch some sleep.
Life is very simple here in Africa.
Itβs so hot during the day, I often have βvisionβ of an ice cream!!! π¨
There is a man selling ice cream on a bicycle. He came one day. Dr. Kondrot said everyday at lunch βif the ice cream man comes, I donβt care if the president is on the operating table, call me out I need to eat an ice creamβ. He is joking of course. But we all crave a cold ice cream bar in this intense heat of Africa.
We have not had a cold drink for 7 days. There is no ice and no refrigerator.
We all know what we are going to have once we get ourselves back into the United States! For me: a nice big ice cream cone! I will say I have earned it!!!!
We love our work. The people here are so appreciative. They are such loving people. π§‘ππβ€οΈ
With love from Togo, Africa.
11 years old boy blind with bilateral cataracts
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
Bringing Light into Darkness
Introduction during the Vision Update Event held Feb 1, 2019 at the Dolphin Beach Resort in St. Pete Beach Florida.Β Go toΒ Β www.KondrotEvent.comΒ Β for more informationΒ and to purchase a compete recording of the event!