Bakel Eye Clinic

In the operating room

In mid December, all of Tamba took part in a two week eye clinic with an NGO called  Right to Sight and Health. It was held in Bakel, which is a town on the boarder of Mali and Senegal. Two doctors came in to do free cataract surgeries for the people in the area. This was their 4th visit to Senegal, and they also do the same program in Ghana. They not only do as many surgeries as they can, they also train the doctors in the hospitals to also do the procedure. It was a really great program to be involved in and was a lot of fun! We got to literally watch them remove cataracts out of hundreds of patients. I worked in the Pre/Post Opt room where I prepared patients for their upcoming sugery, and then when they were done, I gave them medication and sent them on their way.

I was really impressed how quickly the surgeries went. Each one was about 30 min long, and the doctors worked from 7am to 6 or 7pm for two weeks straight. It was brutal and exhausting for everyone! However, it was a great experience and I really had a fun time being there.

Bakel is a beautiful place as well. It is right along the Senegal River and we could see Mauritania which looked beautiful! There is also a long of old French-colonial architecture in the area and we spent a day just walking around looking at everything there is to see.

It was a great experiance and I cannot wait for them to come back next year! Each year it has moved to a different area, so maybe next year I can go somewhere new!