Dr Erick Msigomba and his team fly with MAF to Tabora, where they perform eye surgery for Tanzanians in deep need. After years of blindness, 66-year-old Ernest regains his independence and dignity, but he’s not the only one whose life is transformed...
Story by Annet Nabbanja
As Ernest Nicolaus Skalwanda enters the hospital, his hand is held by Abeli Pita Kamanija.
As one seeing, younger man leads a blind older man to life-changing surgery, it’s evident that the weight of five years of blindness has been weighing heavily.
“My life has become difficult to understand,” says Ernest, who comes from Urambo. “I have ended up living by begging and I lack the freedom to go anywhere or do anything I want, especially economic activities.
“My main activity is farming. Now, you cannot farm if you cannot see. It is very difficult to go to the field, reach there, and hold a hoe. It has badly affected my work because I cannot work. Even the family situation becomes unstable.”
There is something deeply moving about the bond between Ernest and Abeli. They share neither blood relations nor age. Ernest is a divorced man. Since his family abandoned him, he has learnt to depend on strangers for support.
Although unequal in years, Ernest and Abeli hold each other in high regard. Between them is deep respect that age cannot describe. They call each other babu, Swahili for ‘grandfather’.
“My relationship with the patient is similar to that of a grandfather,” says Abeli. “He is the same age as my grandfather, so I consider him like my own grandfather.”
If you travel with this delicate equipment, like from the place where I’m coming from up to Tabora, the chance of damaging the equipment is high.
When Ernest heard that the eye doctors were coming to Kaliua, he begged money from many different people to be able to travel for eye surgery.
Then, bad roads worsened by rain threatened to sink his plans. But Ernest fought against every odd to get to this surgery.
The team is led by Tanzanian eye surgeon Erick Msigomba, whom MAF flew from Njombe to Tabora, turning a two-day-journey by road into only two hours. With the delicate equipment, he and his team could not have managed to travel by road.
“If you travel with this delicate equipment, like from the place where I’m coming from up to Tabora, the chance of damaging the equipment is high,” says Erick.
“MAF have a sophisticated transport which is taking only two hours – and no bumps – in the aeroplane. That’s why we think MAF is a better transport for us.”
In Tabora, most blindness is caused by cataracts – which are easily reversible, yet eye services are still unavailable in the region.
Sister Maria Digna Mpandachalo works at St John Paul Hospital, Kaliua as an Administrative Officer. She explains some of the limiting factors to people receiving medical care in Tabora.
“First, they live far from the hospital, and secondly, poverty limits their ability to afford medical services,” says Digna. “As a result, many people stay with sick patients until their condition becomes very serious, sometimes close to death, before bringing them to the hospital.”
Restoring sight to people who haven’t seen for years is just a wonderful testament to what we do and how we want to help the people here in Tanzania and around the world.
The morning after surgery, when the bandage is finally removed from Ernest’s eyes, hope returns.
For him, it’s not only about sight, but about relationships, independence, and dignity.
He now looks into the past to remember the days of his blindness.
“It affected my work badly,” he says. “For example, I could not work, and that meant the family was affected too. Even people who were close to you, if they lack compassion, start distancing themselves. Relationships become limited because you are always in need.”
Standing on Kaliua airstrip, pilot Peter Griffin is very excited to be able to pick up the team.
He’s moved by the warm welcome of the people and notes the great significance of eye surgeries to the community.
“Doing the eye surgeries here in Kaliua means a lot to the people,” says Peter. “Restoring sight to people who haven’t seen for years is just a wonderful testament to what we do and how we want to help the people here in Tanzania and around the world.”
Now, Ernest can return to the shamba (farm), to once again earn a living for himself.
And as a result, Ernest can set Abeli free.
“It will have a very positive impact,” says Abeli. “Everyone will be able to focus on their own responsibilities while he continues with his life independently, unlike before.”