Dear Supporters and Friends of Eyecare To The Needy,

As we celebrate this wonderful season of the Savior’s birth, we hope that yours is filled with the joys of the celebration of this event.

You will see two images below of the crates containing our last shipment of equipment and supplies to Zimbabwe. The two crates contained an operating microscope, an Infiniti cataract machine with the handpieces and other supplies for its use, two IOL Master machines (which allow us to use a laser to measure the length of the eye and the curvature of the eye for cataract surgery), a slit lamp microscope, a device for measuring the eye pressure, sterile surgical paks, around 2,000 pairs of glasses and other sundry supplies for surgery. We were blessed to have an eye surgeon from Atlanta and another one from Savannah donate much of this equipment, and we also thank our own practice, West Georgia Eyecare, for donating some supplies and equipment for our work and ministry in Zimbabwe.

The good news is that we received word earlier this week that the shipment had safely arrived in Bulawayo, and is now housed in a friend’s warehouse. This is a real gift from God, because so many of our shipments have been delayed by months because of the red tape thrown at us by the authorities. We will now be able to bless and help so many more who have no access to medical or surgical eye care in Zimbabwe and surrounding areas of Southern Africa.

We have made plans to travel to Zimbabwe at the end of January, and our plans are to stay and work for two months. This is, of course, dependent upon the airlines opening up their routes to fly over to Africa. At this stage, there are some significant restrictions, but we hope and we pray that these will be lifted to allow normal international travel to resume. With the vaccine for COVID becoming available, we hope to be in the group to receive it before leaving for Africa.

Zimbabwe is suffering, and the situation there is, may I say it, desperate. Health care has collapsed, and the citizens have almost no way to have their health needs met. We are called to go and bless, help and give aid to as many as possible, so our presence there will have all the more impact. Thank you for your prayers and support for us during these days of uncertainty and turmoil in the world. We know that God will provide, protect and empower us to do the work that is needed.

May you have a blessed Christmas and holiday season.

Steve and Jane Beaty