Mille/Dix Lunettes – The 1010 Spectacles Project
The Project by Fil Rouge to help the Burundi kids with their visual impairment problems
10/10, like the ten-tenths of the best visual acuity
Mille/Dix, like – in French – One Thousand and Ten Glasses Fil Rouge is committed to bring in the coming years to children of Muray
The Fil Rouge non-profit organization has been operating in Burundi since 2006, taking part in the vast and complex “Burundi Muray Children” for the creation and management of a sustainable model of primary health care structure. The particular attention to the difficulties of the children in the area Muray, from birth to adolescence, has led us to analyse the main health problems due to malnutrition, that we are fighting with great success since 2006.
2017 will see the implementation of a new and important project to improve the quality of life of the Muray children and adolescents.
In our world, for a teenager a simple defect of view is not a big problem: a visit to the eye doctor, a nice pair of glasses and everything is arranged.
In Africa, this visual defect creates a severe and sad discrimination for the child or teen who cannot go to school, read and study, not for an intellectual deficit but for a banal defect of vision, correctable with simple glasses.
For this reason, Fil Rouge created the Mille / Dix Lunettes project, aimed at the creation of a scientific and technical basis for the activation of a local eye health program and for the free supply of spectacles to children of poor families and with special agreements and prices, for families with an income.
An Italian ophthalmology team has already made two trips / visits to Burundi at the Muray Health Centre, to make a series of specialized epidemiological assessments on the local population.
The Italian doctors have trained some managers and nurses of the health centre, in order them to make an initial screening of the various visual problems of the local population, particularly among children, providing also the necessary equipment to carry out a professional and comprehensive ophthalmology diagnostic.
This set the basis for the activation of a complete medical program, based on the following points:
- Activation of the visually impaired population screening program, with preference for pre-school and school age kids, through eye examination and reading of the optometric table.
- For patients with improvable visual deficit through spectacles, preparation and supply of custom-made glasses from an optician based in the city Gitega, a few kilometres from Muray.
- For patients with simple presbyopia, improvable by standard glasses, direct supply of the pre-done reading glasses, directly at the Muray Health Centre.
- For patients with mono or bilateral cataracts, organization of the treatment and surgical care at participating specialist centres in Burundi.
- For patients with more severe cases, requiring complex surgery, organization of the treatment and surgical care at participating specialist centres in Burundi.
The Mille/Dix Lunettes project will last three years
We estimate to supply about 1.000 spectacles to the poor kids of the villages in the Muray area.
The total budget for the three years of the project, considering the cost for the medical employees at the Muray ophthalmology department, the expenses for the conventions and visits with the optician in Gitega, the transport of the kids at the optician’s shop, the supply of the prescription and the reading spectacles, is about 15,000 Euro.
Whoever does something to help a child in his life is a hero to me.
(F. Rogers)
How to help us
Fil Rouge Onlus
Via Trevigi, 2
15033 Casale Monferrato (AL)
www.filrougeonlus.org
For direct donations to our bank:
Banca Sella
Casale Monferrato Agency
IBAN Code IT57G0326822600052932253160
SWIFT Code SELBIT2BXXX
Beneficiary: Fil Rouge Onlus
For donation in materials or other information:
Rossella
Tel +39 335 6552238
Email info@filrougeonlus.org