“Can’t you really see me, Grandma?”
After Delphine lost her sight, her three-year-old grandson often asked her the
question.
When they walked together, he would gently take her hand and guide her forward.
At mealtimes, her daughter, Noronette, carefully placed food in front of her and
removed fish bones before she could eat.
“There are things I used to do that I can no longer do, such as working in the fields
and tending to my livestock on the farm,” Delphine said. “I can no longer interact
with the community either. Now, all I do is sit at home.”
What began as blurred vision in early 2025 gradually worsened until cataracts left
the 69-year-old completely blind by December that year.
For Delphine’s family in Maroantsetra, a remote coastal town in northeastern
Madagascar, the loss reshaped daily life.
Delphine and her daughter once worked side by side in the fields. While Noronette
worked, Delphine cared for her three grandchildren. As her blindness progressed,
the responsibilities slowly shifted onto her daughter’s shoulders.
In early 2026, a radio announcement changed everything for Delphine: Mercy Ships
was returning to Madagascar for another field service.
The return of the Africa Mercy® marks Mercy Ships’ third consecutive year serving
in the country and the sixth time the organization has visited the island nation since
1996. Alongside providing free surgeries, Mercy Ships continues to partner with the
Malagasy government, local hospitals, and academic institutions to strengthen
surgical and anesthetic care in the country through healthcare training and
education programs.
For 10 weeks leading up to the start of the 2026 field service, Mercy Ships teams
traveled across Madagascar for 10 weeks, meeting patients in communities around
the country and identifying those in need of free surgical care.
Delphine became the very first surgical patient to board the
Africa Mercy.
“It is a true honor to have our Ophthalmic patients be the very first ones to receive
surgery this year,” said Ashleigh Wong, Ophthalmic Team Manager.
Delphine’s surgery lasted around 30 minutes. The next day, she returned to have
her eye patch removed.
As Delphine stood up after the patch was removed, Noronette instinctively reached
out her arm to guide her mother, just as she had done for months. But Delphine
laughed and gently pushed her daughter’s hand away, joking that she did not need
help anymore because she could see again.
“I’m really happy,” Noronette said afterward. “Things are going to change in my life,
now my mom can take care of my children again, and we can work again together.”
For the first time after losing her sight, Delphine could once again clearly see the
faces of the people she loved.
“Witnessing her being able to see for the first time in many months, and see her
daughter’s face again after so long, is the reason why we do what we do,” Ashleigh
said.
Now, Delphine is looking forward to returning to the parts of life she missed most.
“It’s been long that I didn’t go to church, now I will go to church again,” she said. “It’s
been a long time that I haven’t seen my grandchildren, but I’ll see them again.”