Dear Friends and Supporters,

We have been in Bulawayo for a week, and are very thankful for a smooth journey, although it took 37 hours to finally arrive at the Bulawayo airport. We are thankful the entry process went smoothly. We were able to meet a very pleasant official who inquired about our trip and completed our entry. The possibilities of quarantine and other barriers to enter Zimbabwe because of COVID were a non-issue, and God’s hand of grace was upon our travels. We are so very thankful!

COVID here in Zimbabwe has hit the country with a serious second wave. Hospitals are full, and deaths are rising. We pray for relief and for this to end; several friends are currently hospitalized with complications, and the hospitals here have little to combat the serious cases.

In spite of the lockdown, curfews, the mandate to wear masks and laws against social gatherings, we have been able to continue our work in teaching, mentoring and consulting in our field of eye care. Steve delivered two lectures this past week, and has already seen a number of patients in doctors’ offices and at the Mater Dei Hospital where he has some consulting rooms. One sad case was a little girl who had suffered a serious injury to her eye after her playmate had stuck a stick into it. He was able to remove some sutures from the eye from previous surgery performed at the government hospital, and was able to counsel the girl and her mother about the long term outcome of her eyesight. Several other patients who have serious eye ailments have been treated, and we have a long list of people who wish to be seen by ‘the American doctor’.

We have a young student arriving today to assist us; he will also shadow several doctors here in preparation for his entrance into medical school. We look forward to his company and his help as we continue to work and minister here in this wonderful but needy place.

Thank you for your continued prayers for us; we look forward to sharing more of what God is doing in our ministry here in the coming weeks.

Sincerely,

Steve and Jane Beaty