Thankfully this morning our team got a good starter-we had some beans for breakfast. Perfect for those 110 degree days.  During the day there were pretty amazing things happening all at a time. All of the rooms of the facility are very close to completion, the products look great, the printer is working (when there is electric), the training continued, and so on. Lots of movement, lots of effort going into  all of the activities. Because I’m on the marketing team I’m mostly aware of what we are doing. So to be brief, today we spread the word through the hospital, town and even schools. At the end of the day…the icing on the cake was a live radio show we put together at the community radio station. We gathered OneSight representatives, people from the eye facility and a representative from Sightsavers to talk about the project and what will be going on in the hospital the next week. The result was great!

But what really made my day was our visit to the market of Farafenni, because there we got the opportunity to really share our story with some great people. The Gambians can’t stop smiling, they are always saying hello, shaking your hand, asking your name, and smiling again. They are the sweetest people and they have received us very kindly. Children were following us everywhere and even helping us hang posters all over the market. You can make them happy just by talking to them and maybe by giving them a pen or an empty bottle of water. Despite all the poverty, these people are very happy and mainly they care for each other so much that it seems I have a lot to learn from them, maybe even more that what we have to teach them.

Tomorrow our doctors (who have done an INCREDIBLE job training our Optical Leads, leave very early in the morning to go out into the OL’s villages and walk alongside them as they practice the skills they’re learning. We are all so excited for them, as the success of this project is directly tied to our Optical leads. We are driving back to Banjul tomorrow evening, so we may not be able to post, but I will bring an update soon.

Good night!