“It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:3

This is how Jesus responded to his disciples when they asked him why the blind man couldn’t see.  God intended to show his mercy and power in the miraculous healing of this poor beggar.

Now, meet Dana.  Dana is Ethiopian, and 60 years old.  Not blind from birth, but for many years.  At a young age he suffered trauma to one of his eyes that left him blind on that side.  Then, beginning in middle age, he started to develop a cataract in his good eye.  As the years passed, the cloudy vision progressed further and further.  The cataract became solidly opaque, and Dana was left completely blind.

Dana doesn’t live in Soddo, but in one of the even more remote villages many kilometers from town.  In the villages, many suffer from all sorts of diseases and disabilities, and access to health care is minimal to non-existent.  The idea that there would even be the possibility of healing would be completely foreign to most of the villagers.  Through our partnership with Mossy Foot, SCH sends health workers into some of these villages.  And one day our ophthalmologist, Dr. Nahom, saw Dana as part of one of those outreaches.

Dana, who had lived in darkness for over a decade, heard that a surgery might bring his sight back.

At the Eye Clinic here at Soddo Christian Hospital (a partnership with MMI), Dr. Nahom performed surgery on his eye, removing the clouded lens that prevented him from seeing.  He replaced it with a new lens, and for the first time in many years, Dana could see again.  The beautiful green slopes of Mount Damota.  The fiery blooms of the hibiscus trees.  The faces of his beloved family.  He could see it all again, as he had many years ago.  Not just in his mind’s eye anymore.  But actually see them!

 “That the works of God might be displayed in him…”

At Soddo Christian Hospital, we are correcting all kinds of ocular problems – cataracts, strabismus, pterygium, trabeculectomy, nasolacrimal duct stenting, and tarsotomy for trachoma – just to name a few.  And we are doing it, so that the works of God might be displayed.  When we operate on anyone at this hospital, they hear the Gospel.  That Jesus died to set them free from sin.  We aren’t just about physical healing, but spiritual healing as well.

May God be glorified as many re-gain their sight at Soddo Christian Hospital.