Blessings in Burundi

John and Jessica Cropsey serve in Burundi and are in the process of setting up an eye clinic with their team there. Here's their newest update.

After a solid month of renovation work and staff training, the Kibuye Eye Clinic officially opened on January 21! It was a busy day and the number of patients has continued to increase. On the most recent clinic day, John saw more than 80 patients. The new staff is learning quickly and figuring out the routine for clinic. In addition, John is responsible for two to three medical and two to three nursing students from Hope Africa University at any given time, so there’s a lot of teaching and learning happening! This past Tuesday was the first day of cataract surgeries at Kibuye and there were some happy post-op patients. One bilaterally blind lady in particular made our day when her eye bandage came off the morning after her surgery. It was the first time she had seen in a long time.

Over the next month, John hopes to complete all the renovations on the eye operating room and inpatient wards. Up until now they have been using the main hospital operating rooms. The staff is into a pretty good routine now for clinic days (Mon/Fri), and John is excited to introduce full operating room days (Tues/Thurs). We are very thankful for Dr. Lévi and his team in Bujumbura who let our eye staff rotate through his eye operating room for one week. Wednesday will hopefully remain open for administrative work (World Harvest team leader administration, ordering supplies/equipment, developing the ophthalmology curriculum for the medical school, etc.).

Prayer Requests:

For the many development projects going on at the hospital (in particular, critical upgrades in electricity & water).
After a neurosurgery consult and MRI in Nairobi, Jess was diagnosed with a herniated disc.We opted for non-surgical treatment at this time. We are thankful that the discomfort is manageable and has minimal impact on her daily activities.
Perseverance in language study, particularly in Kirundi.
That each member of our family would make a close Burundian friend.

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