An Update on Moses by Sandra Schley
Posted by Steve Frazier
on Aug 09, 2011
| Our Program on August 9th was presented by former District Governor Sandra Schley, who is a member of the Edina Club. When she went to Africa on a Rotary-trip about funding water systems for dry areas, she visited the Mathau Valley in Kenya. When she was there, she saw a 3-year old who was poorly dressed, and had crossed eyes. The image of the boy stayed with her, and when she returned to Kenya two years later, she found the boy and befriended him. In Kenya, children who have physical problems such as crossed eyes are kept out of the mainstream, and have short, unproductive lives. She found out that his name is Moses, and learned of his family and background. She brought pictures of him back, and showed them to her club as part of a presentation on her trip. An eye surgeon in the club told her that the vision issue was correctable with surgery, and that if Moses was brought to the Edina hospital, his crossed eyes could be corrected. That was all Sandra had to hear. Travel was arranged (not an easy task because of the Kenyan laxness in officially recording births, needed for passports), and Moses arrived at MSP for an eight day visit to the Twin Cities. While here, he had the eye surgery, and some basic dental work donated by a woman dentist who was originally from Kenya (she also was able to arrange follow-up work thru friends in the profession in Kenya). He returned to his home with glasses, corrected vision, and a bigger smile. Education is a serious problem in Kenya, and Sandra was able to arrange for funding for Moses' full education through a fund raising effort and a generous matching grant of $10,000 from an individual Rotarian. The total raised was over $29,000.00. (Story by Tad Shaw and photo and posting by Steve Frazier) |
| Miracle of Moses |