Kyle Collins spent last week in Ethiopia, accompanied by two eye doctors. They spent time at our partner church, Leku Keta, where they conducted an eye clinic to address the massive need for eye care.
I am currently in our guesthouse in Addis Ababa preparing to head home and reflecting on the week of Eye Clinics here in Ethiopia.
Here is a quick video from Zelelum, one of the World Orphans staff, about the clinics where you can see first hand a small taste of what is happening.
The church in Leku Keta loves Pulpit Rock and is unbelievably grateful for our partnership. I spent time with Pastor Mulgeta and he asked to send along his deep love and appreciation to all of you.
It is inspiring and encouraging to spend time with him and with this church. They are unbelievably generous and their heart for the village and area they live in Oromoia is so evident.
This heart was on display in just the first few days as we saw Orthodox Priests, Muslims, Government Officials and hundreds of people from all over the region at the clinic. Many of the people we saw would not normally walk into a church, but because of the trust Leku Keta has built and the reputation of this church they felt safe to come and find help.
In this part of the world seeing an eye doctor is an incredible luxury and many have never been. Most would not be able to afford an appointment or drops for their eyes let alone the cost of frames and lenses. Even Ethiopians with means have a difficult time affording to see an eye doctor.
We had planned to see about 200 people over the course of the week but finished at around 400!
The eye techs we brought with us, Michael Frye and Riley Hamrick, have been incredible and we hired a few Ethiopian eye doctors, Abenezer and Etsegenet, to help us this week as well.
We were able to give out hundreds of reading glasses and sunglasses through a donation from the Lions Club and also let people pick out frames from some of the glasses Pulpit Rock brought on our last trip.
With the Ethiopian doctors and equipment we brought with us we were able to write prescriptions for the nearsighted patients we have seen as well. These frames and prescriptions were handed to the Ethiopian eye doctors and Pulpit Rock will pay to have the glasses made and then the church in Leku Keta will get to distribute them.
We also saw about 13 patients with cataracts and in need of surgery, through a partnership with a Korean hospital here in Addis and a special grant each of these patients will be able to get the surgery free of charge and one of the World Orphans staff members even offered to work out transportation to get them rides to the hospital and back!
Thank you, Pulpit Rock, for praying and for giving financially. Your generosity and faith is making a difference on the other side of the world.
It is such a joy to receive the gratitude and thanks from this church in Leku Keta on your behalf!
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