Dad and Domingo

Dad’s glasses found a home at Friday’s clinic with a 60-year-old man named Domingo. Teammate Mitch – who found a match for Erin’s uncle’s glasses on Thursday – called me over around 11 a.m. to let me know he had a match for me. He said it was closer than those in the system so I stepped out of my station in traffic control (which was pretty fun) and took dad’s glasses out to the dispensing tent.

One of the translators called his name and he immediately stepped forward. Of course, I was already crying. Erin and Steve were on hand to take photos of the moment. I put the glasses on Domingo and they didn’t even need adjusting. They fit perfectly, just like they were made for him. I asked Elder Robbins (one of the Morman kids who is translating for us) if he could tell Domingo that he was wearing a very special pair of glasses, that my dad passed away two years ago and he was loved very much, and that I was honored to be giving him these glasses. 

Domingo just looked at me and smiled. He seemed shy and a little confused by the whole thing. I mean, here’s some American girl bawling as she’s putting glasses on his face, possibly his first pair of glasses ever. It had to be a little weird for him. Then we took some photos and he shook my hand, thanked me, and gave me a pat on the shoulder before leaving. It was one heck of a special moment for me and I hope Domingo wears those glasses for a long time to come.

The other tear-jerker of the day happened while I was in traffic control. It’s essentially the “herding cats” job of the mission. People come out of the doctor area and you have to tell them to go one of two ways depending on what the docs prescribed. It definitely challenges what very little Spanish I can get out. The translators are a huge help in this area. Anyhow, the cool part of the job is you get to see each person come through to the docs. Yesterday, there were a few tough cases – a man with a major infection, a young man with a macular hole (basically his eye was dead and draining fluid), another 18-year-old who was diagnosed with glaucoma (he will eventually go blind), and then there was Oswald.

I saw him coming through the line and figured he was about 17 or 18. You could tell he could barely see. He was holding on to his mother’s arm and she was guiding him. His eyes looked slightly crossed and he just looked sad. This was shortly after I gave out Dad’s glasses so I was still a little emotional. He ended up with Dr. John who spent a good deal of time with him. I could tell Dr. J was concerned about him and getting a little choked up too. Then he came to me and we helped him out the door to wait for glasses which we weren’t going to have. He was minus 18 in one eye and minus 20 in the other.

Darcy was in IMS and got his ticket. She found a pair of minus 10s and came over to Dr. John to let him know. I went outside with them to see Oswald’s reaction when he put the glasses on. They were as good as we could do here. He seemed a little happier and Dr. John explained that we probably gave him an extra foot of vision in front of him, as evidenced when he went to read something. Oswald was able to hold the paper a little farther away. He touched Darcy and John so much that they have “adopted” him and will make a pair of glasses to his exact Rx back in the states and send them to him here.

And then, my translator Grecia spent her last day with me. She won’t be back next week. We traded emails and I hope she’ll keep in touch. She’s a super 16-year-old. It’s amazing how respectful she was with all of the elderly people. American kids could take a lesson from her. She made me some candy (I think her grandmother actually made it) and brought it to me as a gift and told me she was going to miss me. More tears. You become super attached to the people translating for you because they’re really doing the hard work. Though Grecia didn’t let me get away with being lazy. She always made me do as much of the talking as I was able and then she’d correct me when I said something wrong.

On a happier note, we helped 3,268 people on Friday. Today (Saturday) is a free day and we’re heading to a coffee plantation. Hurry – we can all use the weekend to recharge our emotional batteries.