Southern Eye Institute

serving africa since 1988 dr. schanzer dreamed of being a medical missionary since her childhood days when she first heard a marynoll priest describe his missionary adventures. her dreams were first realized in 1988 when she and her husband, tom traveled to nigeria. over the years, cathy and tom have also worked in zimbabwe, mozambique and sierra leone. all of their efforts were carried out in existing programs that gratefully accepted cathy’s surgical skills, tom’s administrative support and their donated medical/surgical supplies. however, in 2006 this pattern of mission work changed. for the first time in their mission career, cathy and tom led the development of a permanent eye care center in a remote village in sierra leone and serabu. southern eye clinic of serabu in late 2005, for several months tom supervised the renovation of a donated block building, adding water well based water systems, generator electricity, patient examination areas, an optical dispensary and a modern ope