Timothy Krell
Recover, Repair and Build

Tropical Cyclone Gezani slammed Madagascar’s eastern coast with deadly force. The city of Tamatave was 80-90% destroyed. Homes and churches were damaged or destroyed. Thousands of people are in desperate need of help. 

Recover, Repair and Build
Timothy Krell
To Build and Repair

Roger and Rachel (Renich) Sambou oversee four churches, a clinic, and a ministry among street boys in Ziguinchor, Senegal. They began Bethel School in October 2015 in the village of Bourofaye, to provide education for children who otherwise would not have attended school.

To Build and Repair

Preventing Blindness in Afghanistan

AfghanBlind1.jpg

March 2008

Afghanistan has one of the highest rates of preventable blindness in the world.
We can make a significant, cost-effective difference.


THE INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE MISSION

operates eye hospitals in five Afghanistan locations. Each year they see over 250,000 patients, and perform over 15,000 sight-saving surgeries. Their hospital in Kabul, run in conjunction with the Ministry of Higher Education, is the University Eye Hospital and is the main training and referral hospital for eye care in Afghanistan. Their staff at UEH sees over 40,000 patients and performs over 4,000 sight-saving surgeries annually.

SLIT LAMP EXAMS ARE DONE:

  • As part of routine eye examinations with other procedures to evaluate the eye, such as an ophthalmoscope, vision testing, or tonometry (measuring pressure).

  • To look at structures in the back of the eye, such as the optic nerve or retina.

  • To detect disorders in the front of the eye, such as infection or injury to the cornea, cataracts, conjunctivitis or iritis.

  • To help detect and monitor glaucoma or macular degeneration.

  • To check for a foreign body, such as a metal fragment, on or in the eye.

  • To detect eye problems caused by diseases, such as diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis.

  • To monitor complications such as bleeding after an eye injury.

Charis Projects: Lydia Tailoring

When I was in Afghanistan last November, I visited the eye hospital and clinic in Kabul run by IAM, the International Assistance Mission. This is the agency with whom our son David and his wife Beverly serve. IAM has operated an eye care program in Afghanistan since 1966 and now provides over 80% of the eye care in the country. Despite having limited resources, the medical staff is doing remarkable work.

I had a tour of the hospital and my guide showed me an examination instrument called a Slit Lamp. This tool has a moveable light source and a high magnification binocular microscope to view the inside of the eye.

The name is derived from its adjustable light beam. By changing the width of the beam, the examiner is able to gather essential information about the eye. Routine slit lamp examinations help detect eye problems at an early stage and guide treatment if problems develop.

An urgent need!

At one time the clinic had nine of these lamps, but my guide lamented that only one of them was working properly. They desperately needed to purchase new ones. When I saw the importance of this equipment and the relatively low cost, I immediately knew that we should respond to this need, and I promised her that we would raise funds to buy one.

After I got home, David wrote that it would be wonderful if we could raise the funds for one lamp, but if we could raise enough for two, it would seem like a miracle! In December we sent $4,500 to buy the first lamp. Now we are working to raise another $4,500 for the second and offer an opportunity to have a part.

You can help!

Your contribution is needed to purchase this second slit lamp. It is not expensive, so any contribution makes a big difference. Most of the tragic blindness in Afghanistan is preventable. Will you send a gift to provide this instrument that is so vital to examination and treatment of adults and children whose sight is threatened? All funds will be used to cover the expense of the purchase. Nothing will be deducted for other expenses. Please consider making a donation to prevent blindness and restore sight.

Thank you and God bless you,
Alec Brooks

Restoring Sight to the Blind

Restoring Sight to the Blind

How your contribution can provide eye surgery to children and adults where the preventable blindness rate is the highest in the world.

Afghanistan has been torn by war and civil unrest for over thirty years, and although there have been significant improvements since 2001, it remains one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries. What little infrastructure the country possessed has mostly been destroyed and will take years to rebuild.

Lydia Tailoring School in India

Lydia Tailoring School in India

A strategic, well-supervised project is helping needy women to support themselves and their families

Every day, in the rural town of Thondamuthur, India, forty-two women learn sewing and tailoring skills at the Lydia Tailoring School for Poor Women. Their new abilities enable them to help support themselves and their families. The six-months course, provided free of charge to them, is overseen by a Christian fashion designer and a tailoring instructor, who also counsel and pray for the Hindu and Muslim women. Because response to the training has been so enthusiastic and the results so positive, enrollment will increase significantly next year. 

MTM Project

MTM Project

I met Martin Vorster in Washington, D.C. at the Prescription for Hope Conference on HIV/AIDS. I identified with him when he described the call of God he and his wife Terry received to serve among the poorest of the poor in Mamelodi, a black township located near Pretoria, South Africa. In response to God's call, the Vorsters began traveling daily from their white suburban neighborhood to work in the black township. But they realized that to be accepted by the people, they must live among them. Here is part of their story.