Seattle Airport – Saturday 9 November 2019
Matt Olivia, a practicing ophthalmologist in Medford, Oregon, is currently in Ethiopia, where he is part of the Himalayan Cataract Project offering cataract surgeries to the many peoples there so afflicted. His generous humanitarian work is in line with the charitable work of the American missionaries of the nineteenth century, who were particularly interested in bringing Christianity to the heathen in Asia. Afire with evangelistic zeal, the well-meaning missionaries immediately came face to face with ignorance and illnesses the likes of which they never could have imagined.
Missionaries have often been faulted for imposing their world view on another culture, without respecting native values. In nineteenth-century Korea, disease and all ills were believed to be caused by demons. To cure an illness, a sizable puncture must be made into the body so the demon of the illness would be able to escape. The body was punctured wherever the Korean “doctor” decided was appropriate—even the eyes. The wound was left to heal as it might. Infections that followed often led to amputations or worse. The medical care of the missionaries in contrast to that of the Korean doctors was understandably welcomed. Native traditions be damned!
