Rath

I was born on the 16th of March 1961 in the town of Lüdenscheid located about 200 Km north of Frankfurt, and 70 Km north-east of Cologne. Lüdenscheid is surrounded by hills, forests and lakes. If you like walking, cycling and swimming, this is the place to go during summer time. But you should carry an umbrella too!!

I was raised in a Christian family, with a sister and a brother. Right from the beginning I was part of the "Freie evangelische Gemeinde" (Free Evangelical Church) in Lüdenscheid. Later I went to Sunday school and the youth group. In 1975, I became a Christian, mostly through the influence and witnessing of the leader of the youth group and my mother. I was baptised in our church the same year and joined as a co-worker in the youth group and later in the sunday school.

After I had completed school I studied nursing in the nursing school attached to our local hospital.

How did I come to CBM? Well, it started in Wiedenest. That is a small village not far from Cologne.

The bible school of Wiedenest used to hold a conference for young Christians at Pentecost every year. I attended five or six times. During these times, there was a lot of talk of mission work overseas. Missionaries from Wiedenest reported. Videos where shown. Seminars were held about the different aspects of mission. There was always a lot of info- material available.

This got me thinking that maybe God was calling me also. It was at Wiedenest where I heard of CBM the very first time. It was from a leaflet in which all the evangelical missions published their available positions. There were many mission societies listed. I had no idea what to do. I just picked one address and asked for info-material. And so it went. I joined CBM as a candidate in June 1985 and was sent to England to learn English, and to Tanzania and Uganda to learn about eye work. In August 1986 I left for Karamoja in Uganda. The CBM partner in Karamoja was the Anglican Diocese of the Church of Uganda. The project was a comprehensive community based health programme. My main focus was the prevention and treatment of Trachoma, training health workers and the organisation of eye camps for surgery. I left Karamoja after seven years in September 1993. But I had fallen in love with Africa and had left many friends behind. I wanted to come back.

After a two years pause in Germany, CBM sent me in January 1996 to Maiduguri/ Nigeria until October 1998. I spent several months in Niger and since August 1999 I am with RACH (Rehabilitation Assise Communitaire des Handicapes) in Gagnoa Ivory Coast. RACH is a rehabilitation project with the new prevention of blindness programme attached to it. We see patients in Gagnoa and the surrounding country side and organise eye surgery campaigns on a regular basis. Also we would like to get involved in the screening of school children. This would mean, training of teachers to do the screening. and we then would look after the referred children and supply them with the glasses, if needed. Soon we hope to construct our own clinic and operation theatre in Gagnoa with the help of CBM. A male nurse is presently in Bamako / Mali for a two year course on ophthalmology. He will take over from me.

I am not a typical missionary who teaches in a bible school or preaches in the villages. But by doing my work with CBM, seeing eye patients, organising operations for them, training health workers in basic eye health, I can show some of God's love to the people here.