Today was our first day at a local outreach and I felt so many different emotions. I talked to SO MANY KIDS AND LOVED THEM! But my heart also broke for them. One of the little girls asked my friend from the U.S. if she would take her home to the U.S with her. My friend asked her if she liked it here (in Ghana) and the girl said no. When my friend asked why, the girl replied, “look around you.”
Outreach Pictures
Another experience I had was with a young teenage girl who came to the clinic with her grandmother. I met the grandmother when I noticed that she didn’t look well. I went over and spoke with her and she told me that she was in the hospital last night for high blood pressure, and the doctor told her to come to this clinic to get her eyes checked out after. The grandmother had come straight from the hospital to the clinic the next morning. (I am truthfully not sure where she spent the night). She told us she was very dizzy, so we sat her down and after getting her some water, she asked if there was a way to see the doctor sooner so she could go home. There was a line of about 100 people in front of her, but I asked a Unite for Sight staff member what the best thing to do was. He told me I could ask the village coordinator what to do so I did. The grandmother was triaged quickly and a couple of minutes later was getting ready to leave.
When I saw her again, I checked in on her and this was when I met her granddaughter. Her granddaughter was extremely polite and spoke very good english. We somehow got talking when she confided in me that “sometimes when [she] reads, it goes blurry,” and she “wants to be able to read tiny letters and read her books.” I asked her if she could see the board and school and she said yes. I then asked her if she had been to an eye doctor before and she said no. I found one of our team members and asked them what to do and he told the young girl to come back again next month to the clinic. When I asked her if she could do that, she told me no, because she had no way to get there and her mom couldn’t take her. I tried to brainstorm as many solutions as I could think possible, but felt completely helpless and stuck.
The clinic member’s advice was all I could really give her, so I just looked her in the eyes and told her that her vision was very important and that I cared about her ability to read. I knew she wanted a check-up today. I could feel the desperation in her spirit. I gave her the information for when to come back for a check-up and just prayed that somehow something would miraculously work out. The next thing I knew, she was leaving with her grandmother and I watched what felt like an hour-long walk out of the clinic onto a dirt road, seemingly headed nowhere. Tears filled my eyes. Then, at the last moment of visibility, she turned and looked straight at me: a longing gaze that seemed to pierce my soul. Once she turned the corner, I ran to the bathroom and wept. Never have I felt so helpless in recommending health care to another person, or trying to improve their quality of life.
I could feel what she wanted from me, but felt as if I was another person who couldn’t help her. My heart was heavy.
I then exited the restroom and returned to the clinic where i gave all my energy to the rest of the patients, people that were getting help today. It was a beautiful change of perspective to realize that nearly 300 people who previously would not have had access to eye care, were now getting screened, prescriptions and the quality care they deserved.
This was my saving grace.
Immediately after my return to the clinic, the first patient who approached me was a patient I had previously screened earlier. He was returning to check his new prescribed eye glasses based off my previous exam. I smiled and brought him back to the screening station and felt a warm peace begin to fill my being as I noticed his vision improve significantly in just a few hours’ time. I noticed the way his grin slowly crept up the side of his face until be broke into a wide smile; this was a moment of victory for both of us. This man could now see so much more, and I similarly felt the same.