Helping to direct the Eyeglass Ministry for Project 8110 is a task that pulls at one’s heart.  In preparation for our first trip, I readied as best I could.  I realized that we wanted to make the Eyeglass Ministry a self-sustaining part of our ministry partner’s church planting ministry.

However, when we got on the ground and came face to face with the people of Sierra Leone, the plans were laid aside.  Dr. Evans and I met the young men who were to be trained as Optical Technicians.  Essa, Bob Thomas and Fidelas were ready to learn!  They quickly took up the project and soon were giving eye exams quite professionally.  

Our new Optical Technicians had agreed to charge a fee to help cover the expense of the eyeglasses. However, when we saw the number of school children that could be helped through wearing eyeglasses our hearts melted.  To see the look on the face of a teenager who could finally see the chalkboard was a truly moving experience.  When we checked people’s vision at the clinic, we felt blessed that we could help so many people.  We also came to realize that none of these people could afford to pay for the eyewear.

During our second trip, we had the chance to train three new Optical Technicians.  Derrick, Lance and Kroma were  church planters from areas east of Bo. Happily, we found that the Optical Technicians trained during our first trip were skilled enough to lead training of future Optical Technicians.  It was a very good feeling seeing these men teaching and correcting the newer technicians in the finer nuances of fitting glasses.
We found that the nature of the eye problems we encountered was much different.  There were numerous cases of persons, young and old, having physical problems with the eye.  

In addition to cataracts and glaucoma, the Optical Technicians saw a great increase of patients with ulcerations to their lens.  We  had incomplete medical histories, but oftentimes measles and other viral infections were mentioned.  We were encouraged by  the number of successes, such as the pastor who can now read the Bible to his congregation, the Catholic Sister who can see well enough to teach the children, and the tailor who can once again see well enough to thread his needles.  Still, we could see that the cost of eyeglasses would be cost prohibitive to the church planting mission of our ministry partner.

The Lions Club seemed to be an answer.  In 1925, Helen Keller challenged Lion International to become "knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness".  Since that time, the Lions have dedicated themselves to helping restore sight throughout the world.  Lions have generously donated nearly 4,000 pairs of eyeglasses for our trip in November.  We will be transporting these glasses to our Optical Technicians so that they can  provide this care to the people of Sierra Leone.  We hope to able to use the Lions Club as a resource for glasses in the future.  This would greatly reduce this expense and allow us to use our resources for other needs including transportation of the glasses and supporting the ministry of our partner.