VOSH Southeast Mbour, Senegal
Eye Clinic March 23-27, 2024

The VOSH-SE team of 10 students from SUNY School of Optometry and SCCO, Marshall B. Ketchum University, 8 optometrists, 4 volunteers, and 1 physician landed in Dakar, Senegal, on March 22nd, 2024. With many of us meeting for the first time at JFK, we were amidst mutual excitement to set up a 5-day eye clinic in the coastal town of Mbour.
We were warmly welcomed to the country by Mame – a woman originally from Senegal, now residing in New Jersey, who connected with a doctor from SUNY several years ago and initiated planning this trip. We immediately hit a wall of dusty air as we walked out of the airport, and after strapping our suitcases atop an old bus, Mame took us to the place that inspired the trip from the very beginning – her mother’s home.

Mame’s mother built a home in Mbour and made sure all her children were educated. Mame said that her mother was the reason she and her brothers and sisters are the incredible people that they are today (we thought Mame had tons of brothers and sisters until we learned that it was customary in Senegalese culture to call those close to you a sibling). This was only a glimpse of what incredible women Mame and her mother are,and that this trip had really started to come to fruition generations ago, starting with a woman who sacrificed so much for her children and brothers and sisters.

We were kindly hosted by Mame and her family and friends.  We were provided with a beautiful villa for our lodging as well as locally prepared meals for nourishment. The villa, tucked away from the main street of the village and near the Atlantic coast, was just a few steps away from the busy road of wooden carriages, people in colorful dresses, the buildings of concrete and sheet metal, and goats roaming about to find scraps to eat. This quickly became our sanctuary where we recharged and shared stories, past and present, and we bonded over the incredible experience we were having while in Senegal.

The site of the eye clinic was a local ophthalmologist’s practice, named “Centre Ophtalmologique Et Optique de Mbour” as it was labeled on a wooden plank outside the facility. Over five days, we provided primary eyecare to 2854 people: providing eye drops and medications as needed, dispensing over 2400 pairs of eyeglasses from our stock of new premade readers or ordering prescription glasses through OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation Changing Life Through Lenses program, and dispensing approximately 1000 pair of new sunglasses.

Patient education was also provided regarding good eye health, how to protect eyes and the importance of good blood pressure and glucose control to prevent blindness. Name an ocular disease, and we probably saw it: advanced cataracts, leukocoria, corectopia, VKC, pterygia, trachoma, staph marginal keratitis, keratoconus, iris prolapse through a perforated globe, ulcers, lacerations, end-stage glaucoma, vasculitis, bilateral subluxated lenses secondary to Marfan’s syndrome, retinitis pigmentosa, optic atrophy, optic neuritis, eye trauma and scarring, and so on. Our hope is that the patients who have been identified as in need of follow up care are able to access it through the local ophthalmology clinic.

There were challenging moments, but there were also moments of pure human connection despite our language differences. Moments where something as simple as reading glasses changed someone’s life after living with uncorrected vision for 20+ years.
The days were long and hot, but we came back to our villa each night to eat dinner and play games, all while reflecting on the once-in-a-lifetime experiences we had just hours prior.
Our volunteers from the U.S., Canada and Nigeria very quickly became brothers and sisters while doing what we were passionate about and helping others.  Our opportunity to provide primary eye care in Mbour would not have happened if not for the support of Mame, her mother and her family throughout this trip.

So many individuals and organizations are to thank for the success of this mission in Mbour, Senegal, including the following:  CooperVision for their donation to SUNY SVOSH, Alcon Cares Medical Missions Program for donation of artificial tears and allergy drops, imprimis rx (A Harrow Company) for the donation of ophthalmic medications, Americares for the donation of medications, EyeGanics for donation of artificial tears, RestoringVision.org for reading glasses, and VOSH International for the donation of sunglasses and frames.  We appreciate the organizational support from Susan Stees of VOSH Southeast, equipment from VOSH/International and ICare USA.  Our partnership with OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation cannot be underestimated and we are extremely grateful for the 400 pairs of new prescription glasses which were provided through this program.

Thank you to Dr. Babacar Cisse for the use of the clinic and for his support, for the local translators and nurses, Dr. Sow for his clinical expertise and to Mame Dabo for her incredible spirit and guidance throughout our trip and for having the vision of what could be possible to support her community.