Blessings in the Midst of Blackouts

Another black out. Thursdays are our surgery days. We were just setting up to begin operating when the power went out again. There was not enough spare diesel to run the generator for all of our 10 scheduled cases, so we decided to wait it out. In the meantime, Mr. Limwanya entertained me with pictures from the various eye camps they had held in villages throughout the Eastern Province of Zambia. Although most of the pictures were faded or overexposed or underexposed, I could sense the joy and excitement of these once-blind patients who were granted the sight-restoring surgeries.

As we were enjoying the photos, Mr. Mwalle – the father of one of our patients (an 18 year old boy named Stephen) – came into the office to chat with Mr. Limwanya. He told us that he works closely with some non-governmental organizations abroad. He stated that he was quite impressed with the work we were doing at Mwami and wanted to assist us in finding outside donors.

The power outage being our excuse to occupy ourselves with something other than surgery, Chipo, Mr. Limwanya, and I began to brainstorm. We drafted a mission statement as well as a letter soliciting donations for our Eye Centre. We worked until 2 pm, at which point we broke for lunch, and then we finished the draft from 3:30 – 6:00 pm. I believe it was not by chance that Stephen required a lengthy stay at our hospital; I believe God intended to put us in contact with his father. Perhaps God also turned off the power so we would have the opportunity to hold this impromptu meeting. Whatever it is that God has planned for us, I am excited.

Just a side note: today I had my second hot shower during my stay in Africa! Yay! The hot water is fixed! What a luxury. =)