(Originally published in The Oregonian newspaper Friday, Nov. 20, 2009, page B 2 of Metro section)
When Dan Holland, M.D., was finishing his first day of work last summer as a visiting ophthalmologist at Tenwek Hospital in western Kenya, the eye clinic was still filled with people.
“What about all these people in the waiting room?” Holland asked Dr. Benjamin Roberts, a full-time ophthalmologist at the clinic. “‘Oh, don’t worry, they’ll be here tomorrow.'” Roberts replied.
“In America, you cannot imagine leaving people in the waiting room overnight,” Holland said. In Kenya, it would sometimes be a two-, three- and even four-night wait to see a doctor, he added.
Holland and his wife, Heather, along with their seven children, ages 3 to 15, 
left their home in the Wilsonville/Tualatin area for three weeks last summer to serve with Roberts at the eye clinic. Dan Holland was able to see more than 100 patients in both the clinic and hospital. “And we did a mobile clinic in the middle of nowhere,” he said.
Holland, a pediatric and comprehensive ophthalmologist with Eye Health Northwest since 1998, practicing primarily in Portland and Troutdale, was struck by the differences between medical care in Africa and the United States. “A lot of kids here who get a stick in the eye are in the emergency room two hours later,” he said. “In Africa, I worked on kids with eye injuries that were a month old.”
The Holland family’s trip came about after daughter Katherine, 15, asked her father to consider going on a mission trip with her youth group last summer.
“And I told her if I am going to go on a mission trip and take two weeks off of work, I want to use my medical gifts,” Holland said. They looked into various mission organizations. “We should go to Africa,” Heather Holland said.
The Hollands had met Dr. Roberts and his wife, Jenny, at a medical conference a few years ago and kept in touch. Roberts is a full-time ophthalmologist in the Tenwek eye clinic, where there is no pediatric ophthalmologist. That’s where Dan Holland came in.
The Hollands arranged their trip with World Medical Mission, a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse. To prepare, the family raised money to buy sheets and blankets for orphanages. They brought sports equipment and art supplies as well as puppets for a show. Dan Holland received medical supplies from Providence Portland Medical Center, Adventist Medical Center, Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center and Alcon lens-manufacturing company. A highlight of the trip was visiting the two Compassion International 
children that the Hollands have sponsored for years. All the Holland children made contributions. Kat took the photographs throughout the trip and had raised money through her art cards to assist the orphanage,” Heather Holland said. “And Courtney and all the kids performed puppet shows for children. Jack and Ryan gave the sports equipment to orphanages.”
When they returned, they knew they had made an impact. “There was this man named Robert who wanted to work for us because he is really hungry. That was my first reality check,” Heather Holland said. “He was really skinny.” She asked him if he had any animals. “But Robert was like, ‘I have chickens.’ Having animals, especially cows, was like us having a car versus not having a car here in America.”
Katherine had earned money selling art cards and had hoped to help someone in need with the money. So, after meeting Robert, the family decided to buy Robert a cow. The cow cost $350, which is the equivalent of half a year’s salary for his family, Heather Holland said.
Robert and the cow the Hollands purchased for him using dollars earned through Kat’s artKatherine said, “It was amazing to know that I was helping him and his family by buying them a cow.”
And Heather Holland added, “And, we got this cute thank you note. It said, ‘I will remember you forever. Robert.'”
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The original story is now online at The Oregonian’s website – photos courtesy Holland family.
