Martin:
Surgery day back at the Kitale Eye Unit and we're waiting to see which of the patients we are following will turn up. When we talked to him last week Simeon, who only has a cataract in one eye, seemed to have the most doubts. Friends and relatives have told him horror stories about what might happen and he has very real doubts about coming in for surgery. Though his wife is quietly determined to encourage him to go ahead we won't be surprised if we don't see him today.
We're pretty certain Justace, who is now blind in both eyes will arrive. And we're also expecting to see Elizabeth who, until a few weeks ago was completely blind. Since then the cataract in her left eye has been removed and she wants to return to have her other eye fixed.
To our delight Simeon arrives, on a motorbike taxi. Shortly followed by Justace with his brother. And then Elizabeth - but today she is experiencing pain in her previously operated on eye and at the last minute decides to delay the operation for another day.
Rono suggests that we now follow Ann, who is just arriving with her family. Ann, like Justace, is completely blind from cataracts in both eyes. So we are back to three patients again.
We follow Simeon, Justace and Ann through the check-in and examination procedures and then on up to surgery. Annemarie, who is valiantly struggling in her new role as sound person, and I don surgical scrubs, hats and mask.
At first sight the operating theatre may not seem as slick and high-tech as we would expect back in the UK but it has a superb surgeon at its helm. I'm amazed at how quickly and efficiently Rono is able to work his way through a long list of cataract patients - it's not just our three that are waiting for him in the ward outside the theatre doors.
At one point the microscope he uses breaks down, he resets it and starts again, it breaks down again, and then again. Justace is on the table waiting patiently for the procedure to be finished. Rono is calmness personified as he copes with the unexpected problem and finishes removing Justace's cataract and inserting the new artificial lense.
As he explains later he needs to be both a surgeon and a maintenance man in this job.
Our three patients leave with patches over their eyes. I think all are surprised at how quickly they have been processed through the operation and glad they can spend the night at home. Tomorrow they will be back to have the patches removed and hopefully their sight restored.
The next morning dawns and all three are waiting for the bandages to be removed. As Rono explains this is the best part of being an eye surgeon - when you see the joy in your patients faces as their sight is restored.
When the patch comes off Justace he's ecstatic. He tells the nurse what she is wearing, waves at Rono and shakes everyone's hands including mine and Annemarie's. He says he knew from our accents that we were white but now he can see we are!
Ann is full of smiles and laughter. She tells her beaming husband that he has gone grey since she last saw him.
Simeon is relieved, but maybe because he still had sight in one eye there is not such a moment of revelation. He complains it's a little bright! Something which causes Annemarie to launch into her favourite joke about the Israelite who complained to Moses after the parting of the Red Sea that "It's a little bit muddy".
Later, Simeon is delighted that the sight in his newly repaired eye is better than in in his 'good' eye. He now wants to be an ambassador for cataract operations. All his fears have evaporated.