Friday 4th – Sunday 6th November 2022

My friend Marion, with whom I coincidently worked in the UK at the same maternity unit, has been coming and going to Sri Lanka as long as I remember in order to manage a charitable eye hospital operated by the Samanala Valley Foundation at a tea estate, that conducts cataract surgery several times a year.  An eye surgeon is flown in from Australia, the UK, Canada or comes from Colombo, to operate on patients.  They usually have their theatre nurses too, with aftercare done by the team and another eye doctor from Kandy. Due  to Covid, the hospital had not been operating since January 2020 when this video was taken. 

Having some nursing background, I was asked to join them for the weekend in question and assist with preoperative care. I had some idea what to expect and I was prepared to see the sad side of Sri Lanka, but what impacted me the most was the sheer, honest gratitude from very poor people and the total trust they placed in the team.  It deeply touched me.

Helping people in need is my calling and my mission which I have strived to achieve throughout all my working life to date, but this was on another emotional level. Being with them was so surreal. It felt like their human evolution was halted for some reason and they live the most simple life and hardest life I have seen. 

It was a huge personal fulfilment knowing we operated on 32 eyes – giving people the hope of seeing the world.

Rennie