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PrayerPoint archive

Nelly Charles was wearing glasses, big and red-rimmed, with tinted lenses, as she waited patiently for her follow-up exam. When she smiled, her cheeks nearly disappeared behind the large frames. But even without seeing her eyes, or half of her face for that matter, there was no disguising the joy that stretched from ear to ear.

That week, the 60-year-old woman had received surgery to remove a cataract that was clouding her right eye at Lighthouse for Christ Eye Center, a clinic supported by Samaritan’s Purse in Mombasa, Kenya.

She’s beginning to see clearly again.

Nelly began noticing changes in her vision last year. She had baked bread all her life, and now had trouble seeing the ingredients. She’d also farmed a section of the family’s property in Kenya’s coastal area, but it was becoming difficult to see where the seeds had been dropped. She couldn’t even make out the faces of her great-grandchildren anymore.

Her parents had lost their sight at an old age and spent their remaining days with limited vision. But Nelly still had so many things she wanted to do. She never had the opportunity to go to school when she was younger and intended to enroll in an adult literacy program in her community.

She heard about a Lighthouse for Christ mobile clinic in her area and arrived early to see a doctor. She had cataracts, the doctor told her, and would need to come to Mombasa, nearly 80 miles away, for surgery.

Lighthouse provided transportation, food, lodging, and medical care. Samaritan’s Purse, through our World Medical Mission program, provided volunteer doctors and medical supplies and equipment to assist the clinic.

Nelly eventually will have surgery on the other eye, but for now she’s grateful for her improved sight.

“I’m so glad I was able to be helped,” she said. “I never got a chance to go to school and learn when I was younger. But now that I can see, I will go back to my village and pursue adult education.”