Not long ago, we finally put the DC-8 out to pasture. We gave it to a museum in China, where it is on permanent display. Its successor is a DC-10. Because the new airplane - new to Orbis, that is; it's actually twenty-five years old and was one of Freddie Laker's original Skytrains  - is so much larger, it can handle even more patients and host more visiting medical personnel. But because the DC-10's systems are newer and its engines more efficient than the DC-8's, it is actually less expensive to operate. The new Orbis has already been on medical missions to Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and South America.

So far Orbis programs have helped save or restore the eyesight of six million people. That encourages us, but there remain more than 40 million people who have lost or will lose their sight needlessly unless they receive modern ophthalmological care. Orbis can provide the training necessary for those who can then deliver that care, so there is much work yet to be done.

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