The Mission Adventures of Dr. Cathy Schanzer
Written by Tom, Dr. Schanzer's husband
January 2-17, 2005

Our trip to Africa was truly wonderful although a very challenging experience. We departed Memphis on Sunday morning, January 2, and arrived in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, Monday evening. We were met by Ambassador General Umaru Wurie, who we befriended a couple of years ago. For the last few years, we have coordinated our efforts with the Volunteer in Mission (VIM) group from the United Methodist Church in Tennessee, a wonderful and dedicated group of volunteers who would be working about four hours away from Freetown in the village of Taiama.

By the time we all gathered our luggage and headed out to catch a half-hour ferry ride to town (versus a four-hour drive on a wicked road around the peninsula where the airport is located), it was 11:00 pm. Dr. Schanzer performed eye surgery at Kissy Eye Hospital in Freetown for her fourth consecutive year during the first few days. On Wednesday, January 4th, she examined the eyes of President Ahmad Kabbah of Sierra Leone.

A few of us spent Thursday and Friday in Serabu, a village located about six hours (and six million giant potholes!) from Freetown and the home village of Archbishop Ganda. Serabu is located in a lush, semi-rainforest area of Sierra Leone and would be our home for the second week. I was able to verify what we would need in order to perform surgery and treat patients in Serabu: a generator, temporary electrical wiring, makeshift water sources, plus all the medical and surgical equipment and supplies. We could convert a building that housed a midwife who provided maternity services. It was one of our more ambitious undertakings in our medical missionary work to date. We traveled back to Freetown on Friday to prepare for our "up country" adventure that would begin Saturday morning.

Saturday, January 7th, began with loading up three trucks full of all the stuff we would need, plus the luggage of the seven people who would travel and work in Serabu with us. Our first stop was Taiama, which is on the way to Serabu. Our friend Sam Pieh and I had planned a surprise birthday party for Dr. Schanzer (her birthday is January 7) and it was a huge success! Nearly the whole village was there. We ate native food, drank native beer (Star), and danced to native music until 4:00 am. The village Chief performed the opening libation ceremony, presented Dr. Schanzer and I with gifts, and then Sam led several hundred people in a Happy Birthday song.

I brought a projector and a DVD player along with a "boom box" I purchased in Freetown to show outdoor movies. The village loved it! By the end of our trip, "Spiderman" would reign as the favorite movie. I've never heard so much cheering for the good guys and booing for the bad guys. What a hoot, and what a fun night!

We woke up at sunrise on Sunday, January 8th, cold-showered and departed for Serabu to attend morning mass. We arrived right on time, and we could feel the excitement in the air. Mass lasted over two hours and was a music-filled glorious celebration. For example, the opening procession took fifteen minutes while we were all singing and swaying, watching the procession slowly advance up the center aisle. Since Sierra Leone was once a British colony, English is spoken some or is mixed with Mende, their native language, to form a Creole language. We were able to follow along pretty easily. The mass was a beautiful celebration. The cultural differences in mass were also interesting. For instance, everyone of all ages processes to the front to give their offering, which may be money, rice, casaba, chickens, etc. During the offertory, they applaud when the host and chalice are raised. And of course, the native instruments compliment the beautiful music, singing, and dancing.

After mass we were escorted to the Archbishop's home, where we were the honored guests of a huge village celebration, including native dancers, musicians, and singers, all welcoming us to Serabu. The village chief spoke of the significance of our visit, namely that Dr. Schanzer was the first doctor to come to Serabu in fifteen years. We were presented with three chickens, a pan of rice, and a bottle of palm oil as welcome gifts. By then it was nightfall and we set up to show "Spiderman" outside in the yard where all the festivities were occurring. The crowd loved it and we had another wonderful evening.

Each morning in Serabu began the same way. A rooster would crow around 5:00 am. By 6:00 am, Dr. Schanzer was dressed and saying her morning prayers. I dragged out of bed about an hour behind her. By 7:00 am we were all gathered in a small chapel in the Archbishop's home, where the local priest, Father Gerald, would come and say mass. Breakfast, usually rice, casaba leaves, chicken, and fruit, was served at 8:00 am and we would wander down to the "clinic" by 8:45 am. There was always a crowd of people waiting for us when we arrived at the clinic. We spent the first few hours of the first day setting up the clinic with temporary wiring, equipment, supply arrangements, water containers from a nearby well, and of course designating a small room as the operating theatre. Somehow it all came together and worked!

During the week of January 9th, we triaged about 500 people and performed surgery on 49 patients (a total of 70 surgeries including Kissy). We brought some medications for glaucoma, minor infections and allergies so that many people were treated and comforted without the need for surgery. Some patients, however, had problems beyond the reach of our portable technology, and so they will have to wait until next year, assuming we can secure the necessary equipment and supplies to perform more complex surgery. Cataract surgery was the dominant procedure, and Dr. Schanzer performed it on patients ranging from ages 10 to 96.

The week was filled with miracles. For instance, one of the calibration instruments did not function which made the final determination of lens implant power an estimate, at best. Nonetheless, all patients did very well and, particularly a 10-year-old girl who was seeing 20/15 when we left Serabu a few days later. Her incredible smile was one of a variety of marvelous expressions of love and appreciation by the patients. One lady blew our her nose with great energy, moving out spirits in her world to allow room for Dr. Schanzer's spirit to return next year. An elderly man confessed that he had not seen anything for over thirty years, and that his post-op morning walk reconfirmed that he lived in a beautiful village. All of the surgical patients were consumed with emotion and gratitude for Dr. Schanzer's surgical efforts.

Given the intensity of the pathology and crudeness of the surgical equipment, it could only have been accomplished with the active hand of God, and I have no doubt that God enjoys holding Dr. Schanzer's hand as much as I do. The whole experience in Serabu had strong spiritual overtones and feelings, more than anything she and I have ever experienced on a prior mission trip.

While Dr. Schanzer and her team were busy sweating bullets in the operating theatre (internal temperature and humidity was 100+), I was busy with my part-work/part-play routines. I supervised most of the triage efforts in the front yard of the clinic, but that was normally completed by early afternoon. Surgery, on the other hand, continued into the evening hours. On our first day, Dr. Schanzer did not stop surgery until 1:00 am. She has always had amazing stamina in these situations and has a passion to make the most of her limited time. I, on the other hand, was on standby to restart/refuel the generator, run to Bo (the second largest town in Sierra Leone, two hours away) to replace a blown transformer, pick up lunch at the archbishop's home and bring it to the clinic, feed all the surgery patients and do any other grunt work necessary to keep the clinic moving. And, of course, one of my great joys was playing with the children.

Oh how the children love to play, especially if sweets (candy) are involved! Every morning about fifty kids would gather around me and ask, "Uncle Tom, will we have sweets today?" and every morning I would say that we would have sweets in the afternoon after my work is done. Kickball, thumb wars, hide-n-seek, and telling stories were are all a part of the play. On our last morning as we were in the final stages of departing from the clinic, I sat outside surrounded by about 100 kids cheering for everyone walking out of the clinic. I would shout, "Here comes Dr. Schanzer!" and everyone would cheer and applaud. We did this for every staff worker, our drivers, some of the post-op patients, and anyone else I could recognize. It was great fun, and of course there were plenty of sweets.

We returned to Freetown on Saturday, January 15. Before departing for Memphis two days later, we were honored at beautiful banquets in the home of Dr. Theresa Ganda, the Archbishop's sister, and also in the home of Rev. & Mrs. Renner, two of Dr. Schanzer's patients from Kissy (who also visited us in Memphis last year). The Archbishop celebrated a special thanksgiving mass and gave us a tour of the new seminary that is now open, although some parts are still under construction. We left Sierra Leone with a good feeling of exhaustion and a strong longing for our new friends in Serabu.

The great news for us is that we will be returning to Serabu for a long time. Archbishop Ganda has offered us land and a building for us to establish a permanent eye clinic in Serabu. Operating under the name Southern Eye Institute, a 501C3 non-for-profit organization, we have accepted his offer and are currently underway gathering the necessary resources to renovate, equip, and staff this new eye clinic. It will also serve as the launch point for other village programs in Sierra Leone as well as serve as a focal point for on-going visiting doctor rotations. In many ways, despite our history of medical missionary work dating back to 1988, it feels like we are just now getting started. We feel so blessed heading down this new road to Serabu!