Relief flooded the face of young Nyagewa Kutin when she arrived at the Lankien Christian Mission Aid Clinic after a long two-hour walk to find the eye surgeons just before they left to their next destination. In a country ravaged by war for over two decades, an opportunity like this was not only extremely rare but nothing short of miraculous for Nyagewa, blind for over a year from an eye injury. The young thirty year old mother of four had become completely dependent on her family to move around or perform the slightest tasks.  Two weeks after her surgery, Nyagewa placed her baby in a traditional woven basket on her head and started on her long walk back to the Lankein Clinic where her bandages would be removed for the first time. As she waited patiently to be seen, her baby’s piercing cries filled the small white tent. Following the cries of her child, she fumbled around using her hands to find his basket. Nyagewa baby had been born after she was blind and as she held him near, she whispered a heartfelt prayer she would be able to see his face for the first time. 

As the bandages slowly came off, Nyagewa’s excited cries and laughter carried around the medical camp “I can see! I can see!” She raised her six-month old boy high into the air, raining endless kisses on his face and rushing out to hug her elated husband and young daughter.

Nyagewa’s joy was contagious and all who saw her could not help but smile. This young mother and her entire family’s lives had been completely transformed.

Like Nyagewa, hundreds are blinded every year in S. Sudan from conditions like Trachoma, injuries and Cataracts which can sometimes be reversible through eye surgery. Yet hospitals and doctors are virtually inaccessible to the vast majority of south Sudanese and countless people, young and old, continue to needlessly suffer the devastation of blindness that virtually paralyzes their already challenging lives. 
 
CMA’s Comprehensive Eye Services program has been a significant icon of hope in this setting of despair. The mobile team, which routinely rotates the Upper Nile area, has helped restore the sight of thousands of Sudanese nationals while rehabilitating and helping support those who can not be treated. 

Thank-you friends and partners of CMA for supporting the CES program, restoring hope and illuminating the darkness in the life of Nagewa and countless others in S. Sudan!