At the age of 74, Liban (not his real name) had been in the dark for a year after gradually losing his sight during the past four years.
But he was overjoyed when a team from the Fred Hollows Foundation flew to his isolated community with MAF and the team of surgeons restored his vision. When his son brought him along to the eye surgery camp at Moyale, near Kenya’s border with Ethiopia, Liban could see nothing except a little light.
“I was in dark when I came here, a situation I have been for the past year,” he said.
“I did not know the colour of my shoe nor clothes I am putting on. Your people are God-sent to set others like me from darkness.
“I have been struggling on how to get help and never thought my sight could be restored. Thanks be to God Almighty and the doctors who attended to me – may God bless work of your hands.”
Liban, who comes from Sololo sub-county about 90 km from Moyale, was one of about 300 people who are able to see again because of the work of the Fred Hollows team. Without the free service, people like Liban might have remained blind because they do not have the funds to pay for medical care.
“The long drought in my village that swept away my livestock made it tough for me to seek medical attention,” Liban said.
MAF Pilot Daniel Loewen-Rudgers flew the team of ophthalmologists to Moyale from MAF’s base at Wilson Airport in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
Catherine Jakaiti, the programme manager at the Fred Hollows Foundation, said the partnership with MAF was essential to bring these skills to such a remote area in the north of the country.
“At Fred Hollows, we would like to thank MAF for their essential and reliable assistance in getting the medical team to the cataract surgical camp in Mandera, without them, this would not have been possible,” she said.
The surgical team screened and treated a total of 1171 people, among them, 327 sight restoring surgeries were performed with a significant focus on addressing 312 cataract cases, surpassing the 300 surgeries target. Additionally, 16 children requiring surgical intervention were identified and referred to Mandera for specialised surgeries.
The prevailing eye conditions addressed during the surgical camp included allergic conjunctivitis, dry eye syndrome, refractive errors, cataracts, glaucoma, bacterial conjunctivitis, and eye trauma, affecting both children and adults.
The project made possible through the collaboration between MAF, Fred Hollows Foundation, Australian Aid and the County Government, has enhanced the provision of free eye care to thousands across the north-eastern region where many of these services are lacking.
Dr Rashid, the county ophthalmologist and Abdirazak, the ophthalmic clinical officer/cataract surgeon who were present for the surgical camp said, “We are looking forward to the next camp as we have witnessed positive post-operative outcomes in all the patients, something we haven’t seen in any of the intermittent camps held in the county in the past 10 years!”
