Delivering Sight
May 2, 2002 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Wolfgang Gindorfer, a German optician, arrived in Uganda in 1985 and quickly set to work establishing an eye-care program in the city of Tororo. As a project director at Christian Blind Mission International, Mr. Gindorfer began by performing vision tests out of a Benedictine monastery. From 1992 to 1993 he oversaw the construction of a 36-bed hospital where major operations could take place. In 1996, he organized a mobile surgical unit that serves a countryside population of 170,000 Ugandans.
More than 1,000 projects like those operated by Mr. Gindorfer are run by Christian Blind Mission International in 108 countries. The charity was founded in 1908 by Ernst Jakob Christoffel, a German pastor who opened a home for blind people and others with disabilities in Malatia, Turkey. The group, now based in Zurich, has its U.S. headquarters in Greenville, S.C.
Blindness is a staggering international problem, afflicting more than 45 million people, according to Christian Blind Mission. An additional 150 million are severely visually impaired. The group estimates that almost half those people, most of whom live in developing countries, could be cured with a cataract operation that costs $30 per person to perform. So far, the mission’s doctors have performed more than four million cataract surgeries, and many other procedures as well.
The nondenominational missionary group is mainly supported by church members throughout Europe and North America, though it also gets support from governments and the European Union’s aid agencies. Last year the group raised $21-million in the United States, including $19-million in medicine and other donated supplies and services.
Among the beneficiaries of Christian Blind Mission’s work is Emmanuel Mugeli, who lives near the Tororo clinic. He was treated for a congenital cataract and given eyeglasses; when he turns 6, he will receive an intraocular lens implant to further improve his vision. In the meantime, Emmanuel, shown here, enjoys playful visits with Mr. Gindorfer and the charity’s field workers.
