Drs Bertha and Wim Schoonbee work at Gahini Hospital in Rwanda.  Bertha describes how she was led to provide a new sport for visually impaired secondary-school students.

I was amazed to find how masterly the Lord had been at arranging things at Gahini, Rwanda, long before we arrived there.

My husband, Wim, who was a general medical practitioner in South Africa for many years, was called to establish an eye clinic and perform eye surgery at Gahini Hospital.

After I had given our youngest children home schooling there for two years, they moved on to other schools.  My inborn love and desire to make a difference in the lives of blind children and students -- because my own two siblings were born blind -- suddenly started to take shape, thanks to many practical opportunities.

I found a group of nearly 40 blind and visually impaired students in the Gahini Secondary School, trying to study and live among and alongside the 1,500 fully sighted students.  They had some help with their studies but their big frustration was a lack of physical activity and relaxation.

A search on the Internet introduced me to 'goalball', a Paralympic sport for the blind.

Amazingly, even as I was explaining the workings of the sport to the students one afternoon, some visitors arrived unexpectedly and brought a wonderful surprise with them: a big, heavy rubber ball with bells inside (a donated goalball from Germany)!

This was an amazing confirmation from the Lord that he would help me to become a sports coach for those students -- something I was not at all sure I could do.

Now we have well established goalball teams.  I see timid, self-conscious students coming out of their lonely shells, taking initiative to organise their own tournaments and competitions.  They even teach the game to others during their holidays.

Playing together has brought unity and a sense of belonging to the community.

Moreover, they come to me with their problems and dreams and we can pray together about them.

Mukarukundo, aged 9, could have eye surgery to remove her congenital cataracts.  She had to be taught, though, to use her newfound sight as she was so used to 'feeling her way' through life.

Others like Milée (4) and Sorange (3) come to us unable to walk, talk or feed themselves because their families have always carried them and done everything for them, not realising that they could enable them to be more independent.

Frustration about their darkness and isolation lead to aggression and asocial behaviour.  They bat your hand away when you try to help them because they only know their own dark world.

Part of our role in those initial sessions is to discipline with love in order to reduce the aggression.  Gradually, they start to co-operate with physiotherapy exercises to strengthen their muscles and teach them balance so that they can eventually learn to walk with the assistance of a pushcart.

It's a miracle to see another kind of light dawning for these children as well as their mothers or grannies as new rays of hope enter their lives.

A small deaf-blind girl found the rhythm from the vibration of a visitor's violin and started dancing!  Her fingers also started to discover the vibration of her mother's voice speaking onto a balloon.

How I wish I knew more and had the staff and facilities to be able to help her!  My hope for her is in him who knows all things.

Published: 10:12 AM :: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 :: 979 views :: 0 Comments :: Mid-Africa Region, Mission partners, Health, Health: Medical, Community development, Education, Youth work, FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS