Clear vision is instrumental in learning. Over 80 percent of learning is done visually, putting students with uncorrected poor vision at a major disadvantage. In partnership with Breadline Africa, we visited a school in Cape Town, South Africa to provide vision screenings and glasses to students in need.

Lameez Eksteen, South Africa Country Manager at the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, shared “We are the biggest organization in the world focusing on uncorrected refractive errors. More than 2.7 billion people in the world have this issue and we use various innovative ways to make sure we provide access to those who cannot normally access these services.”

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We are actively working to break down barriers to vision care access by providing screenings at schools, and dispensing eyeglasses to students with uncorrected refractive errors.

Lene Overland, COO of Breadline Africa, shares how the work of Breadline Africa and the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation goes far beyond a vision clinic, “The vision screening here today does much more than just making a child see better. It also opens futures, it enables lifelong learning, so today, we’re opening imaginations for what is possible. We are creating self-worth, and we are creating hope for the future.”

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Vision Care Through a Volunteer’s Lens

Volunteers at the clinic shared how the opportunity to provide life-changing vision care positively impacts them too. Volunteer Nosipho Zama pointed out the importance of eye screenings at an early age, “I just love the fact that I give the gift of vision, especially at such an early age because that’s where most ocular diseases are missed.”

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Additionally, local volunteer Clinton Willoughby, shared his perspective on being able to give back to his community, “I don’t reside too far away from here and for me to have this opportunity to give back to the community quite close to me, for them to have the ability to see properly, it’s a very good feeling.”

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Our work expands beyond vision care – it strengthens communities and empowers people through opportunity and confidence. Each clinic puts us one step closer to our goal of helping to eliminate uncorrected poor vision in a generation.

OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation Provides Accessible and Affordable Vision Care to Students in South Africa

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