Bob Jackson’s gift of sight lives on

“I don’t think I was prepared for what I was going to see,” said Glen Jackson.

He was referring to his visit to Eswatini where he witnessed sight-restoring eye surgeries.

Glen Jackson’s late brother, Bob, had given a gift in his Will that was used to purchase an ophthalmic microscope for Hope and Healing’s partner, The Luke Commission.

“The ophthalmic microscope is an incredible machine. It’s a large microscope which allows a surgeon — an eye surgeon — to visualize the tiny little eye and operate on these eyes.

“When I was in Eswatini, there were 135 blind people lined up for the week and each day they’d do about 20 or 25 cataract surgeries. They also did a corneal transplant, [repaired] a few lacerations. And these people who had been blind, often for years, lined up the next day to have their bandages removed.

“You have never, in your life, ever seen such joy in anyone. In their smiles, in their dancing, in their singing hymns and praising God. It was such a tremendous experience for me,” said Glen.

Glen said of his mother, ”She could cook a hotdog in more ways than anyone, and we thought we were having a different meal every night.

“We didn’t have a car. We didn’t have a TV… then my father bought a bankrupt business and things started to go really well.”

Once things looked up, his father set up the O’Brien-Jackson Family Foundation that donated to charities of the family’s choice.