During Erin Cardwell’s two-week site visit in her village of Houegbo, she invited local youth to have a focus group and discuss some of the problems within the village. One such problem which was listed was a lack of resources for people with vision problems. Through the recommendation of a fellow PCV, she stumbled upon Warby Parker, an eyeglass company with a “buy a pair, give a pair” model. Warby Parker donates money to another organization to facilitate their philanthropic mission. This facilitator organization is called Vision Spring.
A few days after reaching out to the organization, Erin got an enthusiastic response from the COO of the company who not only turns out to be a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, but a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Benin 2001-2003!
In June of 2015, the first shipment of over 8,000 pairs of reading glasses arrived in Benin. During trainings over the summer and fall of 2015 and again in the spring of 2016, local entrepreneurs learned how to sell these glasses for a small profit. This allowed them to have an income generating activity while aiding their village to access affordable, high quality reading glasses. The trainings taught each entrepreneur near distance vision diagnostic, marketing tactics, stock keeping and book keeping. To date, over 80 entrepreneurs and volunteer counterparts have benefited from these trainings and helped in increasing the reach of Vision Spring.
In June 2016, Erin and a fellow volunteer, Selene Scotton, did a Vision Spring Tour throughout the country to visit those entrepreneurs who had been previously trained and review their activities. Through these visits, Erin and Selene found best practices, what was not working, and what could be done better. They also took the time to listen to both clients’ and sellers’ stories and learn how Vision Spring had impacted them. Below are some of these stories.
Ms. Bernadette Magnan is 42 years old and lives with her husband in Northern Benin. After leaving primary school she was able to learn to sew and currently makes 40-50,000 cfa per month for her work, or less than 100 usd. For about three years, she has been having a difficult time threading needles at work and suffering from frequent headaches. She plans to use her glasses to perform quicker and more accurate work and hopes to make additional monthly income with added productivity from her clear vision.
Amadiene Skia is a 43-year-old seamstress in Kouandé, Benin. In the ninth grade, she got pregnant and was forced to leave school. Amadiene wanted to return to school but with a child to take care of, this was not an option. It was at this time she decided to start an apprenticeship to learn to sew. Her and her husband work together to support their five children. In a good month, she can make as much as 80,000 cfa (less than 40 usd). Amadiene puts the money in a savings group that helps her to hold onto money without access to traditional banking options. After purchasing her new glasses, she said, “Without your eyes, you cannot do anything. That, that was my life. Now, I have found my vision again.”
Jacob Abou is a pharmacist at the health center in Peonga, a rural village in Northeastern Benin. As the oldest of five brothers and the son of two farmers, he was forced to leave school in first grade due to family financial problems. In his early twenties, he became friends with the local health center staff and was trained to dispense medicine in their pharmacy. Jacob was noticed by the director of the hospital because of his hard work and he sent him to study pharmacy. He earns 50,000 cfa per month, or about 100 usd, to support his wife and five children. Last year, Jacob started to notice a loss in his vision. As a pharmacist, a majority of his work is reading and writing small characters for bookkeeping. He knew this problem needed to be corrected, but the nearest optometrist to Peonga is over 100 km and costs over 20% of his monthly income to travel to. After his first week of wearing the glasses, Jacob told his director, "I hadn’t seen clearly before, but now I have glasses that allow me to work faster and more accurately.”
Mr. Effiboley is 46 years old and is from the Gaonogn district in Parakou, Benin. He is part of the minority of the Beninese population who were able to obtain a master's degree. Mr. Effiboley is a teacher and the principal source of income for his six person family. He makes approximately 150,000 cfa per month, or almost 300 usd. With his new glasses, he can now read his students’ papers and his lesson plans clearly for the first time in six years.
Toko Bio Chabi Yiro is a 95-year-old leather worker from Gerimaro in the Atakora region of Benin. He was never able to attend school but learned to work with leather on his own by watching others. Toko continues to make wallets, chairs, canes, and other products. He is the principal source of income for his home and estimates revenue of 20,000 cfa per month or under 40 usd. He says he has suffered from poor vision for years but didn’t know that there was an affordable solution available to him. After hearing an announcement on the radio, he traveled 27 kilometers to purchase glasses. “With my new glasses, I will be able to continue my work and feed my family.”
Chabi Mora is a 43-year-old veterinarian, from Kouandé. During grade school he moved away to stay with his uncle who was better able to support him than his struggling parents. After completing his high school exams, he was sent to a technical school to study agriculture with a specialization in animal-raising. During his studies, his passion for animals grew. Much of his work consists of diagnosing illness and giving vaccinations. Chabi makes 150,000 cfa per month and is happy to pay his children’s school fees, remembering the time when his parents were not able to do the same for him. Many of his clients contact him via text message which he struggled to read. Many times he'd ask his children to read his messages for him. He is happy he can keep his client information confidential now that he can read the messages on his own.
Fatouma Chabe Yorouba is a dear friend and host mama of the Peace Corps volunteer that brought Vision Spring to her village, Kouandé. She left school in eighth grade because in the Bariba culture at that time (her local ethnic group), families did not want their girls to
have babies without being married. To avoid this, they took their children out of school to have them married at a young age. After marrying, Fatouma was sent to Burkina Faso
by her husband to learn to weave. Since learning to weave, she has taught over 100 apprentices and recently opened a professional weaving training center with her savings. She started to notice changes in her vision about five years ago but didn’t know where to go to get help. She says she now has “joy in her heart” because she can see things clearly that she hadn’t before like her weaving work and her phone. “Without my vision I cannot work,” she said, holding up one of her beautiful hand-woven cloths.
Assiatou is the secretary for a local gardening group and grows many vegetables herself. Growing up in a family with nine children, she was forced to leave school in second grade. Assiatou is the principal source of income in a household with three children and is proud to be sending all three of them to school. In the future she would like to save enough money to give each of her children a piece of land. “But far enough from each other that they will not have arguments or familial problems,” she said, laughing.
Rabiatou was born into a family of farmers in Dunkassa, Benin. She was forced to leave school after middle school and married very young. Rabiatou has three children and hopes to have more. Her husband is a part-time teacher and is not paid during the summer months. Together they grow corn and other crops to feed the family and to sell. With the money she makes from selling Vision Spring glasses, she hopes to buy additional items like bowls and pots for her kitchen.
Madelene is a mother of six in Durassi, Benin. She was born and raised in Kalale but moved to Durassi when her mother got too
old to take care of herself and her responsibilities. Her mother was
the president of a group of local gardeners and Madelene has now assumed that responsibility, along with managing the local water pump. She is the second wife to
her husband, who is not present. Madelene pays for all of the family expenses, which include taking care of three children and their school fees. She is very proud of her oldest daughter who is now at University.
Zachary is a jack of many trades and fills multiple roles in his local community. He is the technical director of an NGO, helps the Catholic missionaries build schools in the area, and owns a farm where he raises animals and grows fruits and vegetables. He was recently married and he and his wife have one five-year-old boy. On top of his many other activities; Zachary is the manager of the Kalale region’s sales team. He says he enjoys providing a high-quality product at a low cost to people who really need it.
Madeleine is a 45-year-old mother of four, but caregiver to many. After dropping out of middle school because her parents no longer had enough money to pay her school fees, Madeleine started a family in Cobly in Northwestern Benin. Two of her siblings passed away and she took in their eight children giving her household a total of twelve children. Madeleine's brother became partially paralyzed and moved in with her a few years ago. For many years now, her husband has not been present because of an accident that caused his foot to be amputated. He lives near the hospital, over an hour away from Cobly, and is unable to work. Despite the many difficulties Madeleine has faced, she is upbeat and positive. She works during the week for social services and tutors young girls. On the weekends, she sells glasses to make extra money to feed her very large family. When asked what she would buy with additional income, she said “health comes first”. “If the family is healthy and well-fed, and my children are successful, then I have succeeded, too.”