Glasses
We found a great enthusiasm for reading glasses in 1997, and changed our ministry from WBS to eyeglasses. We did not change countries, but continued our ministry in Malawi where we started organizing a program for eyeglass clinics only. In 1998 we arrived in Malawi with about 3,000 pairs of glasses from the Lions Club. They were in 5 huge boxes, and that plus our luggage attracted the attention of the head Customs officer at the Lilongwe airport, who came up to us and asked what we had in those boxes. We said “Eyeglasses for free distribution”. He said “Glasses? Like mine?” and took a pair of readers out of his pocket. When we said yes, we had our first eyeglasses clinic right there in Customs, with several satisfied Customs officials sporting new glasses. No more doubt about whether there was a need for glasses! People want to see clearly.
Before we even went to Malawi for the new eyeglass clinic ministry, we met some missionaries from Uganda and told them about our proposed new ministry, and they immediately invited us to consider them as our next destination. We emailed them as soon as we got home from Malawi and asked if they were still interested; they said yes and we went to Uganda every year for 10 years, holding eyeglasses clinics with the missionary team, in Uganda, Kenya and Sudan. It was a group effort, requiring a minimum of 7 people to run every clinic. At first, the clinics were conducted with Lions Club glasses, but they proved to be too labor-intensive for the high-volume clinics we were running, and the Lord provided us with additional funds so that we were able to switch to brand-new reading glasses, and later on to add brand-new minus powers for far vision. The addition of the over-the-counter readers increased the number of people we could help tremendously.
In 2004, we got approval from the IRS to be a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization. This designation made the way we were conducting SEE Ministries’ business so much easier. As a non-profit corporation, we were able to independently schedule fund-raising activities, report our legal obligations to the government, and conduct our everyday business.
In 2014, as it turned out, we were again being groomed to keep our eyes and hearts open for messages from Jesus. We went to Malawi for eyeglasses clinics with old friends, and met Dr. Chris Blackburn and his wife Dr. Patricia. They conducted addiction recovery clinics; we stayed in the same hotel and became friends with them, sharing our common love for serving people in Jesus’ love.
In 2015 we invited the Blackburns to accompany us to Uganda and Kenya, where we conducted eyeglass clinics and they held addiction recovery clinics. Our relationship with them was strongly cemented, and they endeared themselves to all our partners in Uganda and Kenya.The glasses ministry provided glasses for about 40,000 people until its end with the 2015 trip. It was really sad realizing that the eyeglass ministry was over, but our love for Africa was not; in fact our ‘retirement’ didn’t last 6 months!
It's 2015 and we've completed all of our short-term missions. We've gotten our 501(c)3 registration done and we have fitted 40,000 people with glasses so they can read their Bibles, etc. So it's time to go to our present ministry.