VISION TEAM BRINGS SIGHT TO VILLAGE

Of the many miracles that Jesus performed, surely the healing of the man born blind ranks among the greatest. According to St. John Chrysostom’s interpretation, the man’s eyes were literally created with mud moistened by Jesus’s saliva and opened by washing them in the Pool of Siloam. While modern medicine cannot replicate such marvels, it can at times serve as the healing hands of Jesus in other ways to restore or improve our eyesight. For the first time at our Father Andres Giron Medical Clinic, we were able to set up a fully operational vision clinic. The outreach was spearheaded by University of Pittsburgh professor and pediatrician Dr. Larry Butler, his wife Susan, University of Pittsburgh Medical student Mary Morkos, Doctor of Optometry student Jenny Liu and her computer-savvy brother Peter. Also, our team was able to count upon the expertise of a Guatemalan optometrist-Cesar Roman- accompanied by daughter Mimi. While an eye exam and a new prescription for eye glasses may seem routine for most of us, this is surely not the case for most people living in the rural Highlands of Guatemala. Indeed, almost all of the patients streaming into our clinic over four days never had their eyes checked before, much less worn a pair of eye glasses. Imagine, then, their joy when testing a pair of glasses and seeing, as one man from Aguacate put it, “so many colors.” This “miracle” was made possible by the donation of 1,300 pairs of prescription glasses, 300 pairs of reading glasses and a high-end auto refractor, all of which made it through the Mexico City airport after tearful appeals to the humanity of the customs officials. Now, because of this blessed convergence of so many dedicated people and donated high tech equipment, an elderly woman in Guatemala happily tells us that she will be able to read her Bible again. This may seem like such a small thing to us, and yet for her it is a miracle. And with the blind man, she, too, will be able to say, “I was blind and now I can see” (John 9:25). To all who continue to generously support the Father Andres Clinic, please accept our deep gratitude for your show of love. It is making a big difference in the lives of so many people.