πŸ§‘β€οΈπŸ’šπŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘€πŸ‘€πŸ‘€ πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³ Eye Surgical Mission Trip in Dakar, Senegal on the Africa Mercy Ships πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³β€οΈπŸ§‘πŸ’šπŸ‘€πŸ‘€πŸ‘€

We completed a 2 weeks eye surgical mission trip on the Africa MercyShips, currently docked in Dakar, Senegal, Africa.

We did pediatric ophthalmology surgeries for children and adult cataract surgeries.

We participated in screening patients and also teaching a local Senegalese doctor to help her perfect her surgical skills. We are scheduled to come back in June to help her with an eye camp in her home town in Senegal.

Africa grows on you. The more we go the more we love Africa. We took a short trip on a Saturday to visit an animal preserve in the desert. We got to see giraffes, zebras, and other big animals. The hundred years old baobab trees took our breath away, so majestic and so beautiful.

The people we treated are so appreciative of our help, they have very little, and to regain their eye sight back means a second chance to life again for them.

As we have to leave today, a part of us stays back with the people of Senegal and we hope to come back again soon to help many more blind people.

Arrival on the Mercy Ship Dakar, Senegal, Africa!

πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³ πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³β€οΈπŸ§‘❀️ Mercy Ships Eye Surgical Mission Trip, Dakar, Senegal, Africa πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³

After 2 days flying from Florida to Charlotte to London, then Madrid then finally arriving to Dakar, Senegal, Africa, we boarded the Africa Mercy Ship at Midnight.

We have to wash our hands thoroughly before boarding the medical ship.

We completed our on boarding paperwork.

A cold dinner plate awaits each of us with our names written on the plastic cover.

Our cozy cabin sleeps two for a couple. Very nice, clean and comfortable. A nice touch is our cabin is one flight of stairs above the operating room so Dr Kondrot can just walk down the stairs in be in the OR every morning at 7 AM.

Our cabin door has our picture and names and all kinds of welcoming notes and other doctors and teams wanting to meet with us tomorrow to go over the surgical schedule for next week.

We will be busy!

We feel right at home. This is our second year returning on this wonderful medical ship, the biggest non governmental medical ship in the world.

We are tired, sleepy, hungry but very happy to be back and we know many people will be very happy to have their eyes operated on next week.

We are so honored to serve on the Mercy ships. It is an experience of a lifetime and we are so happy to be invited back every year to serve at a different country in Africa!

πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡³πŸ§‘β€οΈπŸ’šπŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘€πŸ‘€

Need your help identifying children in Togo!

❀️❀️❀️❀️ Sight.org is partnering with Peace Corps in Togo, Africa. They are looking for children with severe eye diseases needing ophthalmic surgeries.

Dr. Kondrot will be in Togo in May 2020 for adult and pediatric eye surgeries.

All surgeries are free of charge. If you know of any children in need of eye surgery and can’t afford the cost of surgery please contact sight.org at [email protected]
πŸ§‘β€οΈπŸ’šπŸ§‘β€οΈπŸ’š

Vision Event 2020

Vision Event 2020!

Join us for the Online Streaming Event February 15-16, 2020!  At this event you will learn the latest to restore lost  vision and also save the vision in someone in need. 100% of your tuition will go directly to the Restore Vision Foundation a 501c3 devoted to helping the blind.

www.VisionEvent2020.com

How to Become a Humanitarian Eye Surgeon

Dr. Kondrot is lecturing in Rome, Italy at the Italian congress in Ophthalmology.

He is teaching his techniques for cataract removal in a mission setting and encouraging other ophthalmologists to join him in his effort to go help the blind in poor countries for people who otherwise would not have the ability to have their eyes operated on.

Dr. Kondrot has just received a lifetime achievement award for his humanitarian work and is recognized as one of the most generous doctor in giving back and caring for those who need it most.

You can help our mission work!

www.EyeMissionDonation.com

Arrived to LomΓ©, Togo at 10 PM

πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘ We left Tampa on the 6 AM flight ✈️ Saturday morning and arrived to LomΓ©, Togo at 10 PM Sunday night local time🌎. A very long 2 weekend day journey from Florida to Africa. πŸ’«
Immediately after disembarking from the aircraft, we must go through a checkpoint facing an infrared camera for our body temperature readingπŸ”₯. All passengers also must have proof of yellow fever vaccination. If you fail either test, you are back on the plane to go home!✈️
Then we line up to retrieve our visa.
All our equipment and supplies arrived safely. No lost baggage. πŸ™
We breeze through custom without any issue. A big sigh of reliefπŸ‘. I have all my paperwork ready to show the custom officers as I have been forewarned that they might stop us and ask us to pay taxes on the supplies we are bringing into the country. So far we have been very lucky πŸ™ with all our mission trips, having never been stopped and detained by custom yet πŸ‘. We hope our lucky streak continues!
We meet Meza, our in country local coordinator, right outside the arrival door.🀝
We load our bags πŸ§³πŸ’Ό and head out 🚘 to a nearby hotel for some rest.

Destination: LomΓ©, Togo, Africa.

It will take us 2 days to get to LomΓ©, πŸ›« where will have our eye πŸ‘€ camp in a local hospital for 10 days. While we are flying over, the team in country has already started screening people for eye surgeries. πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘ Without any announcement yet, they already lined up more than 100 cases of adult surgeries and 5 pediatric surgeries. πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘ Here are a few pictures of the team in Togo working hard at screening patients for us. πŸ‘€πŸ‘€πŸ‘€

Getting ready for Togo Africa!

✈️🌎 Our bags are packed. We are ready to go on our trip to Togo, Africa on Saturday February 9! Here is Dr. Kondrot getting a number of mandatory shots before we can begin working in the hospital in Africa. Yellow fever, TB test, Hep A and Hep B, tetanus, diphtheria, MMR, long list of other shots but we won’t be allowed to work in the hospital unless we have all our shots. It’s mandatory for all surgeons in the operating rooms.
We are now ready to go!