FINDING LIGHT - PART I

Seeing anew in Serabu

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Dr. Cathy Schanzer and her husband Tom Lewis '73 first traveled to Africa on a medical mission in 1988. The trip was the fulfillment of a childhood dream for Schanzer. Lewis accompanied her with some trepidation.

"I went along just to protect her," he admitted. "Your first visit to Africa, or anywhere there is extreme poverty," reflected Lewis, "is so powerful."

"Once you're there, you can't help but reflect on things that never occurred to you before. You begin to understand what Christ meant when he said, 'What you do to the least of mine is what you do to me.'

"That thought kept slamming me," he said. "I had to rethink my purpose in life.

"At the same time," he added, "I was falling in love with the people of Africa.

"I remember thinking, 'I am doing so little and yet it means so much to them.'"

Today, the Southern Eye Clinic in Serabu (population: 4,000) is known in West Africa for its outstanding year-round services provided by seventeen full-time employees.

Seven outreach clinics operate part-time in the country's southern province. Patients are provided examinations, diagnoses, medicines, and glasses. Those requiring surgeries are scheduled during January and June when Dr. Schanzer makes rounds. In all, 500 surgeries are performed annually and over 7,000 patients treated in the clinics.

Everything is provided free of charge. But their mission in Serabu is not just about eyes.

They train eye-care providers in West Africa. They conduct activities like soccer and Blokus tournaments as well as track meets.

"We also sponsor the elementary education of over 200 students a year in Serabu," Lewis said. "We also send a handful to secondary schools and colleges in towns outside of Serabu."

But they aren't stopping there.