Mary with white diabetic cataracts - Photo: Roger Loguarro

With the help of the doctors in the general hospital, she did extremely well.  She felt much better, less tired, but was still blind.   Eventually after 12 days it was her time for surgery.

I felt very sorry for Mary, as she is so young and was doing well at school until relatively quickly her sight was lost.  She can barely move around now, and constantly needs help.  Of course school has been out of the question for her for the past year.

I don’t really see that many people with Diabetes in Malawi.

Meeting Mary on the waiting line

I was a bit scared when operating, as I wan’t sure how far advanced the diabetes in the eye was, but after the first operation all was well.

Half way there, and happy

In the end a small miracle happened.  I was scared that the diabetes had not only resulted in cataracts, but had also affected the retina.  The surgery went very well, the Nkhoma team were awesome in their care, and Mary’s sight was totally restored.  I will try and visit her in her village near the south Lake Malawi lakeshore later this year, and we are helping her with her diabetic medications so she should be back at the hospital in a month or so for a check up as well.

I felt so thankful that Mary had found us, and we’d been able to help.  I really hope that her life carries on in the way she planned.  She was so excited to head home and celebrate.

Mary, ready to take go home to Lake Malawi, 3 hours drive away

I said goodbye to Mary on a Tuesday, and she travelled home with the Nkhoma ambulance early the next morning.  I’ll tell you, and I am so happy for her!

Around 80% of blindness is avoidable (as in treatable or preventable); and 90% of blind people live in low income countries.

We are winning the war on blindness!

Looking into the dawn of a new decade towards 2020

But a lot of momentum has to keep building to increase efforts even further in the next 10 years to keep going until the job is done..

Thursday 14th is World Sight Day!  An international day of awareness to focus attention on the global issue of avoidable blindness and visual impairment.

80% of global blindness is avoidable.

4% of the World’s population are blind or severely visually impaired.  That’s four times the population of the UK!  It’s truly staggering, but we are also celebrating.  Yes there is a lot of need indeed, but we are winning the war on blindness.

It is incredible to think that CBM have with 102 years’ of disability and development experience and expertise performed over 10 million cataract operations.  And together with the WHO and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, the burden of avoidable blindness is being tackled.  We need to carry on this work, and increase even more as we count down to 2020.

Mrs Samuel in her village before coming to hospital

Mrs Samuel back at home, a month after cataract surgery

But, it’s numbers.  Numbers that I can’t really get my head around.  What really counts to me, the staff at Nkhoma, and most importantly the patient… is that the 10 minutes, or even 6 minutes it takes for that cataract operation (and £20 donated by a kind supporter of CBM) will change that individuals life.  Forever.

New sight, New Life

Or as we say in Nkhoma…

Kuona kwa tsopano

Moyo wa tsopano

In line, waiting for surgery

Mrs Kadzichi back at home in the village

At 8am we had the big staff meeting/indaba to discuss the year ahead, tell everyone an update on Nick’s condition, and tackle any concerns that anyone might have.  Was a great time to have everyone together in the same place, and closed with a nice prayer by Church elder Mr Banda.

We saw a few patients, and then lept into a series of meetings with senior staff, tax consultants, drivers, and cataract case finders.  Finally we met with Stefan, CBM National Coordinator for Malawi and Dr Ter Haar the Nkhoma General Hospital Medical Director.  It was a very productive day  and we got a massive amount of issues sorted.  I’m not a fan of having meetings for meetings sake, but find it a pleasure to sit down with all the staff and people involved with Nkhoma Eye Hospital, to really hammer out and resolve important issues.  A real blessing to be able to do this now, as in 2 weeks time we will start to screen patients in the villages and bring them to Nkhoma for surgery or other help; and that is when we start to get very busy.  Looking forward to it.

It is great to have to weekend ahead to try and find my prodigal dog, and sort through some more work.  What astounds me always is the view from the hill here of the valley beyond.  Just to give an idea about the changing seasons:

Dry season

This is a photo last August in dry season, after the maize has been harvested.

And this is the exact same view from the house yesterday morning, some two months into the rain season.

Rainy season

The landscape now is a real garden of Eden.  The great thing is that the rains have been good over the past two months, interspersed with sunshine, and the maize crops are flourishing.  Crucial really as this one harvest will sustain villagers for the entire year.

I’m off to go and find that prodigal dog.

We have done our first few cataract operations.  I also saw a 12 year old boy who had a penetrating  pen injury to his eye.  Managed to sort it out in theatre.

Steve and Kambewa are driving 200 miles to Mangotchi and Machinga, near the lakeshore, tomorrow to meet the district health officer for his permission to work for patients in his area.  It’s actually a very under-served area of Malawi, so a perfect place to start our outreach activities this year.

We have had fantastic rains here in Nkhoma, interspersed with beautiful warm sunshine, so the maize crops in the villages are doing really well.  In fact the rains and storms were so good here at Nkhoma, I had lightning strike my house twice last Friday.

So here we are.  All safe and well; scorpions, spiders, malaria, tame snakes and lizards, and my trusty dogs Ellie and Malu; ready to tackle the house; and with the amazing staff at Nkhoma, the year ahead.

We are all missing Nick.  And we continue to pray daily for him and his family.  The work that he built up here absolutely must continue.

Sadly the gentleman, Mr Efuloni, who came to Nkhoma from Salima last year, having been referred by the Malawi Council for the Handicapped (MACOHA) has died.  He was a wonderful man, a village chief.  The cataract surgery on his first eye was the 25,000th cataract operation at Nkhoma since 2000.  I remember his smile very well after we operated his second eye!

before the cataract operation

Mr Efuloni after surgeries

He had spent the last few months with his family in his Salima village.  But, as a small blessing to his family and Mr Efuloni, he could see his family, his children and grandchildren; and his wife.

Let’s get this year started, trying to help more people like Mr Efuloni who have been robbed of their sight.