Blog vol 3. 18 House of Life
Back in 2020, before the pandemic, we decided to raise funds for Medical Ministry International, MMI, which provides medical services to the less fortunate around the world. Some of our doctors have been on MMI’s short-term eye care missions to Ecuador, Peru, and Mexico. We saw the need firsthand and wanted to continue to support the work from our practice in Burlington, Ontario. In spite of a rather turbulent 2020-2021, with the pandemic and all, we raised a lot of funds and awareness for this important work.
Fast-forward, two years later, we continue to want to make good eye care available to people everywhere. MMI meanwhile has been dreaming, planning, and praying. Thus were started plans for a hospital boat: “House of Life”, the Mau Ipata, a Ticuna phrase from one of the indigenous tribes that live in the Amazon region. Amazingly, there is full cooperation in this project from the three nations that share this zone: Columbia, Peru, and Brazil.
Leanne Ferris (director MMI International) and the team from MMI want to provide a permanent hospital that is a large boat that will go up and down the rivers of the Amazon basin. An excellent idea. (click
here for more information).
We, at Burlington Eyecare, wanted to do something big, and here it is. We have committed over the next year to raise $50,000 to equip an eye exam lane for the boat. So far we have reached the 32 % mark, a third of the way. We have had support from generous patients (thank you!!) and Burlington Eyecare has committed a portion of our regular sale of glasses.
We have worked with MMI for many years. I personally went to Mexico and Ecuador with them in the late 1980s as part of my optometry training, a very educational and eye-opening experience.
We have also known Leanne and her family (the Skinners of the former Skinner Optical on John Street North in Hamilton, 1949-2004) for years. We have great confidence in the MMI team.
The construction team is locally sourced (as you can see on the video), as will be the equipment for the exam room. This local sourcing ensures continued support, a must for a long-term commitment, and ensures that the local people benefit from the business.
Who knows? One of our Burlington Eyecare team may go down and work on the boat someday in the not-so-distant future. This is all very exciting and actually happening!
Here is a link to our initiative and a video on the building of the boat.
Thoughts of Noah’s Ark and building a boat on dry land come to mind, it really captures the imagination...
til next week,
the good doctor
