Kirupananthans

I was born in Sri Lanka on the 26th of February a long time ago, one of a twin. My twin brother preceded me by 25 minutes. We were told that we were premature and spent our first three weeks in the incubators. I don't remember very much of our early childhood except that we wore identical clothes. When we were ten years old, my father bought us one bicycle which we had to share and there was always a tussle as to who was going to ride first.

My father was a Hindu and my mother a Christian. During our early childhood we attended the Hindu temple on Fridays with my Father and Church on Sundays with my Mother. My Father died when I was fourteen years old and we moved to Jaffna. We attended a Christian school and there, under the influence of the principal, we received adult baptism and confirmation.

I qualified as a doctor from the Ceylon Medical College in 1967 and having worked in the district and peripheral hospitals, returned to the medical faculty as a lecturer in Anatomy.

Having an interest in clinical medicine, I chose Ophthalmology and moved to work at the Victoria Memorial Eye Hospital, the premier eye hospital in Colombo.

I married Raji in 1974. We had known each other since childhood. We left Sri Lanka for England in 1977 to pursue my postgraduate training in Ophthalmology. I obtained the Diploma and Fellowship in Ophthalmology from the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh and from the Royal College of Ophthalmology in London.

Up to 1979 we had made no attempt to attend church regularly or become involved in Bible reading or prayers being "nominal Christians". It was in 1979 under the influence of Pastor Bob Cotton of the West Gate Chapel, Bury-St-Edmunds that we came to know our Lord as a living and loving Saviour. We accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and were baptised on the 24th of February 1980. Since then our lives have experienced the joy and peace which we had not known before.

Having worked in England at various locations, I was led to work in Saudi Arabia for about nine (9) years. During our life in Saudi, what we enjoyed the most was the Christian Fellowship amongst the expatriates. Under very difficult and restricted circumstances we met together discretely to worship the Lord. We also started a Christian Fellowship in our home. It was a great risk, however, but we trusted the Lord to protect us. Having been a witness for Christ in Saudi Arabia, I wanted to serve Him in the field as a Medical Missionary.

By the Lord's mercy, I was introduced to Mr. Art Brooker (CBMI Canada) by my brother who is in Canada through of the CBM pamphlets. From there onwards the Lord took over and we were selected and asked to work at the ECWA Eye Hospital in Kano, Nigeria.

We have been here since May 1994 and I am serving the hospital as a consultant Ophthalmologist and as the Medical Director. My work at the hospital also has me oversee the management of the eye patients, training and teaching of young Nigerian doctors and nurses as well as training/teaching missionary doctors from neighbouring countries.

Our loving Father has blessed us immensely and we have enjoyed every minute of our work and stay in Kano. He has blessed us with good Christian co-workers, a Christian atmosphere to work in, and an opportunity to service Him in bringing sight to the poor, the needy, and the blind.

We seek your prayers for our continued work in Kano.