From Darkness to Light: Cataract Surgeries in South Sudan

This episode of On the Ground with Samaritan’s Purse takes you to East Africa, where Samaritan’s Purse conducted a week-long cataract mission in the remote town of Tonj, South Sudan. Host Kristy Graham introduces you to Samaritan’s Purse staff, volunteer doctors and nurses, and patients who received life-changing cataract surgery. Cataract surgery only takes 10-15 minutes to complete, but it is almost completely unavailable in South Sudan. If these patients lived in a western country, their cataracts would have been removed before they affected their daily life. But in South Sudan, they progress to the point of complete blindness. Over a period of one week, a Samaritan’s Purse team completed 442 cataract surgeries. Kaitlyn, a podcast correspondent, was in South Sudan covering the work. In this episode we are excited to introduce you to patients who were literally brought from darkness into light.

First, Kaitlyn sat down with Karen Daniels, a nurse and program manager of the cataract program, to learn more about why this program is so important. She shares that cataracts are the leading cause of blindness worldwide.

Dr. Gradin, one of the ophthalmologists working on the mission, explained the lack of access.

“There’s literally thousands of surgeons in the U.S. who can do cataract surgery. In this country, there might be half a dozen at the most and that’s for a population of about 10 million so the people in the rural areas just don’t get care. Either they’re blind or a group like us will come and do surgery on them.” – Dr. Dan Gradin

Samaritan’s Purse partnered with In Deed and Truth Ministries to set up the clinic. This ministry has a permanent base in Tonj. Together, Samaritan’s Purse and In Deed and Truth Ministries made sure that every single patient heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Suzy, the director, shared that patients traveled from more than a 100-mile radius to reach the clinic. Many walked the long distance, being led by family members or even small children.

“It was not that easy for me to be led for five days. Someone was holding my stick, and I [had] to follow it.” – Nhomuot, a cataract patient

Bethany Densham, a nurse and program advisor of the cataract surgical team, shared with Kaitlyn how the program opens doors for the Gospel. Since the surgery takes just minutes to complete, the impact can be far reaching in a very short period of time—creating Gospel opportunities as a patient’s sight is restored.

Next, Bethany walks listeners through the clinic. From an initial screening to surgery, she explains the process. The tour concludes with the removal of eye patches. The joy in the room is contagious as you hear patient’s reactions to their eyes being opened for the first time in years.

Kristy then introduces patients whose joy was restored. Wol described being blind like a prison. When his eye patch was peeled away, he started singing and dancing. He said this was a newfound joy.

Another patient shares how the cataract surgery didn’t just open her eyes physically, but it opened them spiritually. The Word of God penetrated her heart, and she surrendered her life to Christ.

Joy was a common theme of the week. Ayinguk, one of the patients, started rejoicing at just the hope of seeing again. As she went through the screening process and waited patiently for her surgery, she celebrated. She had faith that this surgery would change her life. When her eye patch was removed, she couldn’t stop singing. She shared that she knew God existed because of the Samaritan’s Purse team who loved her enough to come to South Sudan.

Over the course of the week, hundreds of lives were changed as their physical sight was restored. Every patient heard the Gospel at multiple points along the way and many chose to put their faith in Jesus Christ. Please continue to pray for South Sudan and for the patients whose lives were changed.