by Sr. Margaret Anne Meyer MMM                                           USA                              10.09.2025   

Another exciting time was when Dr. Marilyn Scudder came to do ophthalmic surgery and treat eye diseases. We always loved her visits. She was a particularly good community person and played the guitar. We spent the evenings singing and laughing. She could remove twenty cataracts a day and taught one of our nurses to do lid repair. There was a lot of trachoma in the area and the eye lashes wound invert to the eye and cause damage. I tried it once, but it took me two hours and Nurse Anna could do it in thirty minutes, so I referred them to her. She had skilful hands and patience. The patients were laid side by side in the isolation rooms. They never had pre-med or post up because they did not need it. Dr. Scudder gave a local anaesthetic needle below the eye and directed to the ophthalmic nerve. No one budged. It was amazing to watch them and their courage to accept pain and the unknown.

A patient of hers whom I remember was a grandmother who had two cataracts and caused her blindness for many years. Her 8-year-old grandson was taking care of her and when the bandages were removed, the look of recognition on both their faces was ecstatic. I will never forget their joy seeing each other.

Another was a young girl who had severe cataracts. She was blind for a long time. We tried to investigate the cause and concluded that it was a parathyroid tumour causing high calcium levels. She was grateful to be able to see again.

Another was a woman in her thirties, who had cancer in her eye. Dr. Scudder removed the entire eye and asked me to do a skin graft to insert into the eye socket. Thank God, it covered the socket perfectly. With a good pair of sunglasses, the woman looked fine and was grateful to be relieved of her pain. Dr. Scudder was always teaching and taught me how to deaden the nerve pain in the blind eye of a leprosy patient. This proved helpful in Nigeria, as well, because, although the person was blind, they had no pain and did not suffer the stigma of losing an eye. Dr. Marilyn Scudder was a great woman and revered friend of many of the Sisters.

She came by land rover and brought many fresh vegetables from Moshi with her. This was a rare treat because at that time we were lucky to purchase cabbage in the local market. Sundays, the day of Marilyn’s departure, I would cook pancakes for breakfast.

Speaking of the market in Singida, Sr. Christina told us of a funny incident which happened to her. She was very friendly with many of the Asian merchants and one day, one of them said to her, Sr. Christina, “Come on in and see my backside.” We all howled.
He had the choicest foods in his back store and wanted Sister to get first choice to buy them.

Within a few months of my arrival, Dr. Rachel Patton came and was an immense help in sharing the medical work. She was a friend of Sr. Doctor Marian Scena arrived in 1979. We were happy to see her.

We had an incredibly happy community life. On special feast days, Sr. Catherine Fallon would do liturgical dance for us. The Pallotine Fathers celebrated Eucharist in our chapel.

At the end of August 1978, I was asked to leave Makiungu and help Sr. Dr. Maureen Mc Dermott in Dareda Hospital because the lay Doctor’s contract had ended and he was returning to England. This is another story.