The patients at our biannual eye surgery camps in Indonesia usually cover the gamut, from young to the very old, though typically we don’t see many children. This year, however, the doctors operated on two, Lamhot, age 11 and Elfrianti, age 12, in Sidikalang in Northern Sumatra. They each had two cataracts and due to rapid deterioration there was a good chance they would be blind within a year. These kids were very brave souls to go through these operations at such a young age. Here’s a short video of their story.
This March, Caris Foundation in partnership with Body and Soul Ministries was able to complete cataract removal surgery on 509 eyes in three locations in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. At Perdagangan Hospital in Simalungun, we completed surgeries on 269 eyes, at Porsea Hospital in Balige-Tobasa another 110 eyes, and at our final location in Sidikalang, 130 eyes. Our surgeons, Drs. Pinto Pulungan and Jusni Saragih, from Medan, are extremely professional and proficient, accomplishing these surgeries in just three long days. The tireless work of these doctors and their nursing staff is amazing to watch.
We can’t just show up and start operating on eyes though, we have to lay the groundwork throughout the year in order to arrive at these locations and have screened patients prepared to regain their sight. And we couldn’t get all of this done without the tireless work of Marganda Marbun and Erni Lim, who live in Indonesia. Marganda works with the surgical team to visit future surgical sites, inform the public of upcoming surgical screening opportunities through radio spots and ads, screen patients, and arrange the logistics of each trip. Erni Lim provides accounting services to help us maintain financial efficiency and integrity. They both do a wonderful job and this March’s camp was again conducted efficiently and perhaps most importantly, in a way that honors patients as “made in the image of God.”
