One college student sees the difference volunteers make during her trip to an eye clinic in Sierra Leone

By MAUREEN SIMPSON
Published Tuesday, July 15, 2008

In helping residents from a small village in Sierra Leone, West Africa, get their vision back this summer, Skyler Griffin gained a little clarity herself.
The rising junior at Southern Methodist University, who graduated from Hilton Head Preparatory School in 2006, spent two weeks of June working at Southern Eye Clinic in Serabu. As a biology and anthropology major with a focus on pre-medicine, Griffin said she always has had an interest in applying her studies on an international level. She and two other college friends were able to arrange the trip to Africa through a family connection, ophthalmologist and Memphis, Tenn., resident Cathy Schanzer.
Schanzer and her husband, Tom Lewis, have been doing medical mission work in Africa since 1988 and established a permanent eye clinic and surgical center in Serabu at the beginning of 2006. While the free clinic operates year-round with local employees, the couple travels to Serabu every January and June for Schanzer to treat hundreds of patients with cataracts, tumors, growths of the cornea and glaucoma. Griffin and her friends, Katrina Patterson and Ross Johnson, were able to tag along in June as volunteers.
"It was an amazing experience, because I realized just how much is possible when you make an effort. One person can make a whole country's difference," said Griffin, noting that Schanzer was the first doctor to come to the small West African village in more than a decade when she first started her work there.
"We were able to help well over 250 people in a matter of two weeks. With surgeries alone, Cathy was able to make 153 people see again," Griffin said. "We saw people being led into the clinic completely blind, and in the same day, they were able to walk out by themselves being able to see again. That was one of the most gratifying things I have ever witnessed."
In spite of the challenges posed by Sierra Leone's war-torn infrastructure, Schanzer said she has been able to perform modern surgeries at Southern Eye Clinic, which operates off a generator, well water and basic medical equipment and supplies. The number one cause of blindness in the country are cataracts, she said, and "the need is phenomenal."
"It's a very underdeveloped country with a lot of civil unrest. Rebels destroyed the infrastructure, so they never can get past the basic needs of every day," Schanzer said. "They don't get access to health care. They don't get anything. But we just do what we can."
At the clinic, Griffin said she helped diagnose patients, take their eye pressure, administer medication and read the charts of post-op patients. She also was able to scrub in on a few eye surgeries.
"I couldn't have gotten that kind of hands-on experience anywhere else," Griffin said. "The surgeries Cathy does are extremely significant. Her and Tom's clinic is the only eye clinic in all of Sierra Leone, so people travel from all over the country and neighboring countries to get their eyes treated. Without them, any sort of eye care would be close to nothing. Simple complications or accidents that can be easily fixed with eye drops or a quick visit to the eye doctor in the states, turn into blindness or completely losing an eye in Sierra Leone."
When she wasn't assisting Schanzer at the clinic, Griffin said she had the opportunity to work in the local Christian and Muslim mission schools. She and the other students who traveled with her were asked to teach a lesson. They also organized a number of games for children in the village to play, including a warmly received water balloon toss.
"These people and kids have been through unimaginable pain and have so little, but they still smile and have so much hope," Griffin said. "It really puts life into perspective."
When Griffin returns to school in the fall, she and Patterson plan to organize a number of fundraising events for the village through a campus group they're calling "Saving Serabu." Money that is raised through their efforts will go toward providing textbooks, establishing a library, getting clean water for drinking and supporting the eye clinic.
"I definitely plan to go back to the village, but this trip also gave me the desire to travel more," Griffin said. "It's one thing to hear about the needs that are out there, but it's a completely different experience when you see them for yourself."
No. 1 problem: cataracts
According to Cathy Schanzer, an ophthalmologist from Memphis, Tenn., who started Southern Eye Clinic at a small village in Sierra Leone, cataracts are the number one cause of blindness in third world countries. A cataract is a clouding of the eye's natural lens due to protein buildup. Every January and June, Schanzer travels to Sierra Leone to perform hundreds of cataract surgeries. Last month, Hilton Head Island resident Skyler Griffin was able to work as a volunteer with Schanzer for two weeks.