Peru 2019...so it begins....

Good day all, on Thursday evening, Evan & Emma, Derrick & Marina, and I finished packing all the boxes for shipment to Lima, Peru via Toronto.  All  26 boxes of eye glasses, Meds., equipment, trial lenses, power cords, etc.  At 1pm Saturday we loaded the Cargo van and we were ready to go... YVR airport here we go at 4am Sunday, all excited to meet all the Team members leaving from Vancouver.  I was excited to meet all the new faces and lots of old faces from past missions.       

                           

             

                            

This is my 8th mission trip with TWECS and everytime I feel like a newbie because I'm not in the eyecare profession... I'm full of excitement and the adrenalin rush is mounting... new faces, new experiences, and I know that I must have forgot to pack something.

                            

It's been a long journey... sorting used eyeglasses every Monday night for the past year to get ready for this trip.  But, when one experiences the look on a patient's face as they receive their new glasses (sometimes 2 pair) it makes it so worthwhile.  On past trips, my youngest patient was 9 months old and my oldest patient was 88 years old.  Many had tears running down their faces at the joy of being able to see again. Several times I have had to ask my interpreter what was wrong when I saw the person crying and the answer was “nothing” they are so happy to be able to see/read!

Rodger Konkle, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
TWECS Director and
TWECS Warehouse Manager