Everyday is a new beginning!

Today’s blog entry is going to be very a special one, because I’m going to tell you a story of how one girl’s life is forever changed. You maybe thinking that I’m being “dramatic” or “cliché,” but that’s definitely not the case. This is a true story and I’m really proud to say that all it took to bring happiness to this one girl’s life is a single letter.

Meet Sana Idirrisu.

Before I tell you Sana’s story, I have to back up and tell you about this “letter.” While I was preparing for my trip to Ghana, I realized that I wanted my friends and family to connect with the Ghanaian people as well, more specifically to the patients that Unite for Sight was helping. And then a light bulb turned on in my head! I knew there was a simple way that I could connect two people separated by 6,539 miles – videos and letters! I immediately asked some of my Unite for Sight officers and members if they could write encouraging letters to some of the Ghanaian patients. Although, some of the officers were resistant to the idea, I received five letters that motivated the patient to seek help, had words of moral support, asked about their life in Ghana and also included a bit about life in the United States.

Today was the first day that I gave one of the letter’s to a patient: Sana. This letter was from Sai Alla – a rising senior at Saint Louis University and a member of Unite for Sight. Sai wrote with words of passion and asked the patient to seek help for her eye problem, to be fearless and to have faith in the end result. He continued to write about how important it is to just be strong, fearless and always seek the best from the situation. Sai wrote: “I can imagine how debilitating your cataracts must have been to your life and I hope from the bottom of my heart that this “magic” surgery will give you your life back.”

I gave the letter and the childhood picture of Sai to Sana and then recorded her responses on video while a translator helped us on the sidelines. Little did I know that the letter would impact Sana so much.

Sana is a 9-year-old Ghanaian Muslim girl that now lives at home 24/7 because of her debilitating eyesight. She has an immature cataract in her right eye (a clouding of the lens which impairs vision) and on top of that she has corneal ulcers on both of her eyes. Both of these conditions were caused from trauma about two years ago. She was involved in an automobile accident where she had glass and other sharp objects enter her eye and ever since then she has had bacteria feast on her cornea – leading to the ulcers. Corneal ulcers are extremely painful due to nerve exposure, and can cause tearing, squinting, and vision loss of the eye. Sadly, for two years Sana has had a very grim expression on her face due to the extreme pain she has been experiencing. She says that she has been looked down upon in her community because she does not go to school and neither can she help her elders. She said that she is a “little kid stuck in an old woman’s pair of eyes.”

As soon as she heard Sai’s letter you could see a smile slowly rise on her face. She began asking several questions: Is he a little boy like in the picture? Where does he live? Ask him what candies he likes and what he wants to be when he grows up! She was suddenly inquisitive, charismatic and jovial and her true personality came out. The past two years she lost that side to her and slowly transformed into a very quite and reserved kid. As soon as we told her that she would be referred to Tamale Eye Clinic and that the doctors would help treat her condition she jumped up and down and gave me a huge hug. It was a very long hug and I could truly sense how emotional she was. It was unbelievable. She told me to tell Sai that without him and the donors that paid for her eye treatment – she would never be able to get treated for her eye since her family is very poor. She also said that Sai’s words of encouragement were very near to her heart and that she wants to become a doctor so that she can treat the people of her village. Sana told us that the Village Chief had been suffering from stomach pains and that when she becomes a doctor when she grows up she will come back and treat him!

Sana also gave me her four most prized possessions to give to Sai: 4 bottle caps of different colors. Sana pretended that the caps were dolls and played with them everyday for the past two years she had been at home. Under each cap she wrote one letter of her name and told me to give it to Sai so he remembers her and he remembers to help out more people like her.

Yes, this is a true story. Shocking isn’t it? All these optimistic words came from a NINE YEAR OLD. A letter can go a long way and tomorrow will be a new beginning for Sana Idirrisu.