Reflection from Kevin Kelly on the 2010 Mission

From Kevin who worked in vision: <
Two things happened over the course of the week that I will take with me for the rest of my life. One came on Friday at our last village. After lunch, in the vision room, I felt a tug on my shorts and turned around to see a young boy holding out his hand, offering me a piece of candy. I took the piece of candy and asked him to "watch it" (mira esto) and then I did a slight-of-hand trick and pulled the piece of candy out of his ear. He laughed so whole-heartedly that within seconds, the room was filled with other children raising their hands, asking me to do the trick again and again. Each time it was met with the same laughs and the same smiles. Then I did the trick and slipped the candy into my pocket, the children were clueless. They checked both of my hands and were shocked the candy wasn't there. Then, giddy with excitement, they immediately began checking each other's ears to see where the candy was hidden. While this was happening I reached into my pocket, grabbed the candy, found the first boy and pulled it out of his other ear and gave it back to him. The laughter was overwhelming and is something I won't soon forget.
The second story is much more personal. On the first day at our first village, I really didn't know what to expect. We used black trash bags to tape off the windows and make the vision room as dark as possible. Already a warm day, the temperature rose quickly. Again after lunch, a young boy hesitated to walk in the door, tentatively following his mother who smiled warmly at all of us. The boy wasn't as welcoming, and I asked him to sit. Squinting, he shied away from any greeting attempt and sat motionless in the chair. I picked up the largest pair of coke-bottle glasses that we had. A big, bulky, plastic, Clark Griswold pair of spectacles that would undoubtedly consume most of the boy's face. I put them on the boy who blinked hard, twice, and smiled arguably one of the biggest smiles ever recorded. His head was immediately on a swivel, taking in every aspect of the room. He jumped up and sprinted out the door, taking in everything he'd always missed. We helped him see the world for the very first time, and although he was dirty, woefully impoverished and behind a cultural eight-ball, I've never seen anyone happier. It was the first day of the rest of his life. That day was a great day. His name was Moe'.