Our Medical Missions

During this mission we ran back-to-back Eye surgery campaigns.  We began with a Cataract Campaign in Desse, Ethiopia at Boru Meda Hospital where over two days we restored eyesight to 430 people who were blind from dense untreated cataracts. Local Ethiopian surgeons were hired to perform the surgeries and the joy of our patients who just one-day post-op were able to SEE again was palpable.

Grateful patients broke into spontaneous song, raised their hands in gratitude, and called out blessings for the doctors and donors, with the crowd echoing heartfelt “Amens.” One of the most moving moments was when Zareetu, a 28-year-old mother who had been blind for five years, saw her baby for the very first time once her post-op eye patches were removed.

Then we launched our one-week Oculoplastic Surgery Campaign which was an amazing collaboration between our  three volunteer  oculoplastic surgeons from Israel: Dr. Ran Stein, Dr. Shirin Hamed Azzam, and Dr. Morris Hartstein working together with Ethiopian surgeons Dr. Asrat, Dr. Adame, Dr. Mulluken and Dr. Tolloso. Two of the Ethiopian surgeons are graduates of our doctor training program in Israel.

This expert team performed 188 complex, life-changing reconstructive eye surgeries for patients ranging in age infants to the elderly. Many of the children had been suffering from painful blocked tear ducts which had caused pus-filled nodules to develop on their faces – and they are now healed, after having tear-duct bypass surgery.

Our amazing 14-person Israeli volunteer team, including four ophthalmologists and ten laypeople transformed the lives of thousands during this impactful 6-day medical mission. 

Due to civil unrest in the Gondar region, we focused our work in Addis Ababa and in Mekelle, Tigray region. The latter has suffered terrible devastation following the end of the brutal Ethiopian Civil war in 2022. 

Our team brought direct Eyecare to close to 1,000 people by running Mobile Eyecare Clinics in the Addis Ababa Jewish community, the Mother Teresa Mission of Charity in Addis Ababa, and in IDP [internally displaced persons] camps in Mekelle, Tigray. We screened for eye disease, glaucoma, cataracts, vision problems and more. We dispensed close to 500 units of medications and hundreds of pairs of eyeglasses, immediately treating conditions of people who otherwise lacked access to Eyecare.

We restored eyesight to over 500 blind people at our Cataract Campaign at Quiha hospital in Mekelle.

Three of our volunteers who are medics trained 60+ teens who’ve been living in IDP camps for 2 years without a solid school structure, in First-Aid and CPR, teaching them how to deal with everyday emergencies in the IDP camp. 

We donated canes to children at the Blind School in Mekelle on behalf of the Israeli blind community

Our doctors consulted on complicated cases in the ophthalmic clinic at St. Paul’s Millinium Medical Center, and were honored to have a press team stop by the hospital to film our work, which was featured on Ethiopian TV and in the Ethiopian Herald Daily.

Our team of four Israeli volunteers, including three ophthalmologists, joined with three local Ethiopian volunteers in Addis Ababa. Together, we treated over 500 patients at Mobile Eyecare Clinics in the Addis Ababa Jewish community and the Mother Teresa Mission of Charity.

Our doctors consulted on complicated cases in the ophthalmic clinic at St. Paul’s Millinium Medical Center, and were honored to have a press team stop by the hospital to film our work, which was featured on Ethiopian TV and in the Ethiopian Herald Daily.

Our Israeli team continued on to Mekelle, in the Tigray region, where Operation Ethiopia restored eyesight to 500 people blinded by dense cataracts. We visited IDP (Internal Displaced Persons) camps that house thousands of families displaced by the Ethiopian civil war, treating patients in a Mobile Eyecare Clinic, and meeting with the organizers to plan how to expand our work in the IDP camps during our upcoming November medical mission.