Our dear friend and fellow worker, Bako Rajaona, has been a very effective teacher of Malagasy to the missionaries for many years now. Before that she worked as a lab technician in the hospital and before that was teaching in the Good News School. She has also been a very committed Sunday school teacher and Bible club leader. She has been a faithful Malagasy missionary to Mandritsara.
In December 2020 Bako developed a retinal detachment in her only seeing eye, rendering her effectively blind. She went to Antananarivo, but there is no resident retina surgeon in Madagascar. Her family arranged for her to go to Germany for treatment, but because of the pandemic her visa was refused. In the providence of God a Kenyan Christian retina surgeon was brought to our attention. Almost all flights out of Madagascar were suspended due to Covid, but a way was found for her to fly to Nairobi via Addis Ababa in early January. A couple of days later she had surgery, after which she was able to see again. A second operation was performed a few weeks later, but after that a further detachment took place necessitating a third operation. This was successful, but at this point there were no passenger flights going to Madagascar. Two days before her final visa extension expired she was given special permission to fly back to Madagascar via Paris - and she is now back in Mandritsara and able to see well enough to live independently.
Please pray for her and the team as they assess whether her sight is sufficient for her to continue with language teaching.
Click the buttons below to read a letter of thanks from her church in Antananarivo and a letter of thanks and testimony from Bako.