A Samaritan's Purse cataract mission restores sight and encourages patients toward Jesus Christ in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ninahilo began to notice his vision going. “I was teaching children and I noticed that the writings were starting to disappear, and I saw fog until I couldn’t see,” he said remembering the change in April of last year.
So he turned to traditional medicine, a spiritual and herbal practice that he believes conjures local deities.
Ninahilo is screened to determine the extent of vision loss.
“I was suffering. I started with prayer at church, but then was pushed to go find the witch doctors,” he said. “That was the first time I’d seen mystical things. It made my heart ache. My father had raised me to be a Christian. I said, ‘I can’t go on like this.’”
He prayed to God once again for help. A little while later he heard about the Samaritan’s Purse clinic on a local radio program.
The Double Cure
Ninahilo came to the clinic with the burdens of the previous year weighing on him. A woman in his town had said, “You haven’t suffered yet. You will suffer now.”
The procedures that normally only take minutes can change a patient’s outlook for years and decades after.
He said that’s when his vision began to go. He still carried the guilt of visiting the witch doctor. Had he been cursed?
During his operation, Ninahilo’s blood pressure spiked, requiring the procedure to pause. He was fearful as he rested in a nearby room. But this medical crisis was about to become the doorway to something far greater than restored sight.”
Ninahilo was one those patients whose life was transformed.
Life transformation is why our cataract team of surgeons and nurses, who often leave behind busy practices for a week or more, had traveled to Isiro, Democratic Republic of the Congo, eager to donate their time and skill. Their shared goal was clear: helping people like Ninahilo experience God’s love through them—through the gift of restored sight. Here are several of the team talking about why they view this as their calling.
Dr. Dan Grayden, a Portland, Oregon, ophthalmologist, now in his sixties, has been a part of cataract missions to see people like Ninahilo experience the blessing of restored sight and the miracle of hearts turned to God. The missions have become his calling.
“I’ve been coming on Samaritan’s Purse trips for the last few years and really enjoying the chance to treat people in the Name of Jesus Christ. There’s nothing like this that I’m doing that brings me this kind of joy to see patients who are blind to be able to see again, and I never get tired of that.”
Medical professionals from multiple countries joined the cataract mission in Isiro, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Dr. Jason Pithuwa, a Congolese ophthalmologist, came to Isiro for similar reasons—to see God work in the healing of eyes and changing of lives. He was grateful to use the specialty skill to see his fellow Congolese come to Jesus Christ.
“We are not only doctors but we are also Christians. It gives us enormous pleasure to know we’re fulfilling a mission,” he said. “And with Samaritan’s Purse and us, as their partners, we have in our hearts the mission of restoring vision—the physical vision—but also of seeing God restore spiritual vision.”
For Dr. Mary Ng’ang’a , a Kenyan ophthalmologist who joined the surgical team, the spiritual component was deeply personal. As a child, she had experienced vision problems herself.
“This inspired me when I was young a child. I experienced eye problems and I missed school for three months. It [now] means a lot to me to help people,” she said. Her approach to the work at the clinic reflected this. “We pray with our patients before we start the surgery, asking that the Lord may touch them. Sometimes they figure out when they see that prayers helped make that happen, and that’s the thing that’s giving me joy.”
Patients gathered to celebrate and worship the day their bandages were removed.
During the week-long mission in Isiro, the team completed more than 550 sight-restoring surgeries, and God opened the eyes of many hearts as well. More than 300 people professed faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives.
Eyes and Spiritual Sight Restored
As Ninahilo rested in a nearby room, a local pastor named Alphonse visited him. He encouraged him from God’s Word, prayed with him, reminded Him of God’s love and provision.
Ninahilo recounted the story of his blindness, the curse, his fear that he would never see again.
He had grown up believing the Bible and going to church. He’d since fallen away, and wondered how he could come back to God after “visiting with the Devil.”
So the pastor shared from the Bible, reminding him that “Satan has no power over those who belong to God.”
Again they prayed together, and the pastor offered him this hope: “He told me to give myself to the Lord Jesus Christ. Only He can save me,” Ninahilo said.
Following his procedure, we provided Ninahilo with several gifts, including an audio Bible device containing God’s Word in his language.
As he lay in bed that night following his procedure, his eyes bandaged closed, he wondered what the next day would bring. Would he see with the others? He fell asleep and dreamed and was filled with comfort in the early hours of the morning.
“In my sleep I saw someone who came to take something from my eyes. Then that person went away,” he said. “It woke me up right away.”
Later that morning he gathered with the others to get their bandages removed. His countenance was changed. He was at peace.
“I’m saying ‘Lord, thank you for meeting my need,’” he said as he waited with the others. He recounted the procedure and the visit from the pastor. In the operating room, he said, he asked Jesus Christ to save him. “I’ve given myself, body and soul, to Jesus Christ, so everything will be fine. I know that God created me. He is the owner of everything. I turned to Jesus Christ. He is my Savior now.”
And, once again, he was able to see clearly—in so many ways.
The team treated hundreds of patients during the one-week cataract mission.
