Nicolas Gérakis

Pobè is on the road to the north, when you leave Cotonou and Porto Novo. It is above all the main city of the Plateau region, a vast area of 450,000 inhabitants. When we set up, we were the only eye care structure for the entire sector. 9 years later, we still are. The […]

The ADM association contacted us to help them deal with vision problems encountered in the Matam region. 5 years later, we have set up an optical center, hired and trained two young Matam residents and distributed several dozen frames with the perfect power to the people we consult.

Benin hosted 2 missions. That of February which allowed Amandine LEPAGE and Fabienne PENTAGROSSA, opticians, to launch teletraining with Elvire PADONOU and Marguerite FAKEYE, our two local staff. Accompanied by Dr Georges RIOUX, the technical skills of the ophthalmological service led by Pierre NANOUKON have evolved.
The second mission has been postponed to December 2022 with the same objective, in preparation for the arrival of a new optical partner in 2023. Stay tuned!

Since the beginning of the year, our optical center in Matam has been visited by the volunteer teams of Thierry CALDERON, the association's optician partner, based in Avignon. In January, June and October, we launched our Digital Repository there. The training of the young Salla, the future optical manager of the center, therefore takes place through physical missions and remote training sessions.

After more than a year and a half of inactivity, Voir La Vie is returning to humanitarian missions in Guinea.
The aim is to relaunch the professional practice of staff with the implementation of distance learning. Provision of consultation materials, sessions on handling screening devices, skills training and distribution of corrective glasses.
Thanks to the HK Group and its Solidarity challenge which organizes all distance training sessions

For several months, Voir la Vie has been studying with the Rotary club in Cotonou Center, carrying out the “100 cataracts” operation. In partnership with the French clubs of Marseille St-Michel and Gémenos Ste-Baume, our NGO provided, last month, 100 cataract operating kits for the care of as many children requiring rapid surgery.
A school screening, carried out by Dr Alain Paul Amoussouga, past-president of the Beninese club and ophthalmologist at the La Lumière Clinic in Cotonou, made it possible to identify children with congenital cataracts. His team mobilized to offer the Rotary the possibility of carrying out these advanced strategy operations. The most important thing remained to be financed: the supply of phacokits which will allow the lens of these young students to be replaced. Something done by the delivery of precious packages during an administrative mission led by a representative of our association.
The rest is now just a matter of scheduling to best time the various surgical interventions according to the academic pace of the beneficiaries. One thing is certain: fighting blindness will allow these hundred children to continue their studies and therefore avoid dropping out of school, synonymous with being excluded from society. And when we know that these kids' only daily meal takes place at school, recovering their sight goes beyond the simple problem of visual comfort!

Voir La Vie is part of the Beninese National Plan to combat blindness by approaching Professor Soulé ALAMOU, Focal Point of the Ministry of Health. By offering 200 cataract operating kits, Professor ALAMOU's team was able to go to the Pobè region where our NGO opened an ophthalmological unit. The patients, selected by our medical team, were operated on within 2 days of the advanced strategy.
Professor ALAMOU will continue further north, towards the town of Bassila for another series of surgical interventions. Thank you to our partners, the Rotary Clubs of Marseille St-Michel, Gémenos Ste-Baume and Cotonou, the Sun Valley company, for helping us acquire these phacokits.