Here is what Pat Tanner wrote when she attended the African Soiree to benefit the United  Front Against Riverblindness. Thank you, Pat for helping us spread the news.

And here is an account of how the family of the late Peter Meggitt received a very special award.  From left: Hugo Meggitt, Liz Meggitt, and the presenter, Rev. Tom Lank.

This statuette of a child leading a blind adult was made by a third-generation sculptor from Burkina Faso. It represents the tragedy of the disease that affects more than just the infected person — and the hope that, with sustained community-based mass treatment, this common depiction of the disease will soon disappear.

The fifth annual African Soiree, held on March 1 at Princeton Theological Seminary, raised $16,000 for UFAR, the African-inspired, Lawrenceville-based nonprofit that aims, in partnership with other organizations, to eliminate and eventually eradicate riverblindness as a major public health and socio–economic problem in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In 2010 Peter traveled with a Princeton United Methodist church mission team to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and he made significant contributions to UFAR’s fundraising efforts for the past five years.

Also presented that evening: a certificate showing that a village has been sponsored in Peter’s s name. This sponsorship, which includes a picture of the village chief, keeps the entire village from going blind.

More than one-third of the 60 million people in the DRC are at risk for contracting riverblindness, according to Dr. Daniel Shungu, UFAR founder.

Photo by Robin Birkel.