Before
The ADM association, Agir pour le Développement de Matam, is based in Paris and carries out development actions in their Senegalese commune, in the north-east of the country, on the border with Mauritania.
Abou NDIONGUE and Abdoul DIAW, secretary general and president respectively, contacted Voir la Vie to help them set up an operation in favor of the local population suffering from ametropia.
A joint venture between the two associations was created in 2017 and enabled the creation, at the end of 2019, of a brand new optical center.
NOW
A long series of agreements between ADM and the Departmental Council of Matam made it possible to establish the project to create the optical center and to give the program its full official dimension. Through a framework agreement, it is part of the national program to combat preventable diseases.
A 100 m2 premises was entrusted to us by the Matam Health Center. The development work ended in October 2019, leaving just enough time for Lionel SIMON, administrator and optician, to assemble the refraction equipment that our partner, the company Centrimex, generously transported to us on site.
The recruitment of our optical team has taken place. First Salla BA, then Abou THIEM more recently. Their training is provided by volunteer opticians from the Calderon Group, based in Avignon. Its manager, Thierry CALDERON, has heavily involved his teams in this humanitarian endeavor (creating an internal motivational challenge called Team Mirabelle). Its director, Imane SAIDI, conducts numerous training sessions in Matam and briefs the departing volunteers.
Since 2026, a new group of opticians based in Rodez has joined our staff training program. This is the Dubor group, led by Céline and her brother Guillaume. The Aveyron-based family business, founded in 1953, has no fewer than 17 locations and a significant number of employees willing to pass on their expertise to Matam.