Dr. Williams and Surgeons for Sight in the Dominican Republic

Dr. Brad Williams and other volunteers from Surgeons for Sight recently traveled to La Romana, Dominican Republic to provide eye care, spread the word of God and hand out special gifts (dolls and dresses) given to us from people in the Greenville community.    We would like to thank Vanessa Tucker and Alpha Lockaby for these gifts…….they brought smiles to many children.  The medical work included cataract surgery, vision screenings and eye glass dispensing which was performed at the El Buen Samaritano Clinic, a volunteer inspired and faith based, non-profit clinic.  The clinic focuses on bringing health care and education to the impoverished in La Romana and to Haitian people living in the surrounding “bateys”.  Since the clinic had little, if any eye care equipment, the Surgeons for Sight team had to transport essentially everything needed to perform eye surgery and perform eye examinations………..”it was a lot of stuff”.

Bateys is where the workers in the sugar cane farms live.  It is sometimes translated into English as ‘Camp’.  There are over 100 bateys in the region and perhaps thousands throughout the Dominican Republic. Living conditions in these villages vary from location to location but they start out poor and go downhill from there. Few have running water, none have adequate sanitary facilities, and no electricity. The open trench of raw sewage overflows with each heavy rain shower, flooding the ground with the contents of the trench.  The bateys don’t exist to provide a place for children, but children live in these terrible conditions.  The children arrive when a woman in the batey, many times a teenager barely a woman, needs a place to live, needs food to survive, and with no work for women, finds a man to take her in.  Life for a man is not easy either.  To keep his house he is up at first sun and off to the cane fields. He will work all day, cut about 2 tons of sugar cane, and he may earn the equivalent of $10 US Dollars.    

The Surgeons for Sight team visited the sugar cane fields, the bateys and a health clinic “day” in a church at one of the larger bateys.  We saw children being dewormed, rows of out houses (toilets) and people getting healthcare from another U.S. medical mission team.  We also helped with eye care that day and gave out eye glasses.

In addition to eye care, a goal of the trip was to train doctors and help establish an eye program.  Dr. Williams and his team did some training and filled the empty shelves in the “eye care” office with supplies.  By providing training and getting equipment in country, we hope that the Dominican Republic people can provide eye care for themselves.  The Surgeons for Sight team is looking forward to returning to the Dominican Republic. 

If you are interested in learning more about Surgeons for Sight or making a tax deductible donation to help our international or local eye care work, please see www.surgeonsforsight.org or contact Felicia Murphy at (864) 354-1364.