Friends of Eyecare To The Needy;

It’s good to report to you the wonderful things here that our Father has opened up for us in work and ministry in Bulawayo. Our theme verse for this trip has been Psalm 96:3-4 which says, “Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all peoples”.

We’ve had a very busy schedule since arriving almost 3 weeks ago. As you saw in our previous blog, Dr. Andrew Barkmeier and his family first came, and he and Steve were in the operating room at the hospital with Dr. Gilbert Moyo, our trainee retina surgeon till the evening hours every night while he was here.

Dr. Barkmeier and his family left a little more than a week ago, and this last week Steve saw patients, lectured and went on rounds at the Richard Morris Eye Hospital, received and unpacked with Jane our latest shipment containing a host of retinal surgical supplies, and did a case involving a cancer of the eye in an immunosuppressed man who is HIV positive.

Steve also worked with Dr. Ora Malemane, another colleague in seeing patients with keratoconus, a corneal disease, and they have our first corneal cross linking procedure scheduled for Wednesday. Please pray that all goes well. 

Dr. Cris Larzo , from Southeastern Retina Associates in Johnson City, Tennessee arrived yesterday, and we start more retina surgery tomorrow with him teaching Dr. Gilbert Moyo again. Gilbert has progressed significantly in his skill sets, and we are encouraged with his learning. We are grateful to once again have Ms. Danel Watermeyer, a retina nurse from the Perth Eye Hospital in Australia. She arrived yesterday as well to assist Dr. Larzo in surgery.

So, we are fine – Jane has been very occupied keeping us guys fed and joining Steve in seeing patients who have come for consultations. We look forward to what the Lord is continuing to do in these new areas of eye care that we are bringing to help so many. 

Thank you for your prayers.

Steve and Jane Beaty