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GOODVISION LIBERIA

GoodVision Liberia began working towards its mission of providing affordable eyeglasses to those without access in 2019. Only 10% of the Liberian population has access to medical facilities and even fewer to eye care services. Access is especially limited in rural areas of the country. Additionally, the price of glasses is unaffordable for most Liberians. Since our inception we have provided free vision screenings to over 17,000 people and have distributed more than 2,000 pairs of glasses. The GoodVision team travels to neighborhoods in Monrovia and to rural communities outside the city. We provide free vision screenings and distribute eyeglasses to those who need them. Clear vision allows students to succeed in school and for adults to excel in their jobs. GoodVision Liberia aims to provide access to affordable eyeglasses to all Liberians and to spread awareness about the importance of eyecare and the opportunities that good vision provides.

St. Joseph’s Hospital serves as the hub for our GoodVision team. The hospital was established in 1963 and is non-profit institution that provides free services to the community and is based in Monrovia, Liberia. GoodVision addresses the existing gap in vision care that exists within the hospital’s services and effectively meets the needs of the local population. GoodVision Technicians welcome individuals at our clinic hosted at St. Joseph’s hospital for free eye screenings and distribution of eyeglasses. The team also travels to communities around Liberia, visits government entities, schools, and churches.

GVTs at a School Outreach

Jackson T. Smith

Country Director Jackson joined GoodVision Liberia as the Country Director in April 2024. He studied at Obafemi Awolowo University in Osun State Nigeria, where he earned a degree in politics, philosophy, and economics from the department of political science. Throughout his career, he has worked for a number of companies including Diagnomedics Ltd. (Huma Diagnostics Germany), a marketing and service provider for lab and medical equipment in West Africa. In his role as their country manager for Liberia, he forged alliances with the Ministry of Health and other international organizations that promote health. Jackson’s desire to serve people drove him to work in Nigeria with the Bethesda Child Support Agency, in Liberia with Project Concern International, and at the Center for Liberia Future. Due to his commitment and hard work, Jackson has become a well-respected and accomplished social worker and health professional in Liberia. 

Matee Morris 

Co-Project Director, Ophthalmic Nurse  Matee is an ophthalmic nurse and is the co-program director of the Liberia team. Matee helped establish the eye clinic with Refuge Place International and GoodVision. She worked as a nurse for two years prior to becoming an ophthalmic nurse and she has played a critical role in the training of the GVT’s.

James Cooper

Finance and Administrative Manager James has two years’ experience in cooperate finance and more than ten years as a finance manager and administrator for non-profit organizations. James holds a masters’ degree in banking and finance along his bachelor’s in accounting. Additionally, he has gained several notable certificates including public sector finance and financial management for NGOs. James brings with him extensive international experience.

Jim Saye Suah Jr.

Project Advisor Jim Saye Suah Jr’s role is a consultant for the Liberia project.  He is a graduate of Cuttington University of Liberia with a B.S. in Plant and Soil Sciences. After graduation, his career interests have focused on epidemiology with interest in investigating the incidence, distribution, and control of diseases. In 2018, Jim transitioned to Refuge Place International (RPI) and the GoodVision Liberia Project Manager. He is now continuing his education in the US and working as a Project Advisor for GoodVision USA.

GoodVision Technicians:

Patrick Porka, Ade Wilson, Doris Wilson, Youconjay Papa, Prince W. Johnson, Emmanuel Kolubah, Elijah Fallah, Thomas T. Dorbor, Christina David, Charlotte Quiqui, and  Alfred T. Folleh

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© 2022 PO Box 600121 Newtonville MA 02460, GoodVision USA, Inc., a US 501 (c)(3) public charity, EIN 83-1871284

Sally Hunt

Sally Hunt | ©

Sally Hunt

Treasurer, Board of Directors

Sally has a long career with experience in operations management, project management, software development, system analysis, computer programming, and customer support across a wide range of industries.

She has worn glasses since she was eight years old and greatly appreciates the importance of good eyesight. Sally is excited about the opportunity to use her skills to help build an organization that will improve the lives of so many people.

 

 

 

Dibby Bartlett

Dibby Bartlett | ©

Dibby (Olivia) Bartlett

Member, Board of Directors

Dibby has been in the optical industry for over 40 years. She has been part of sales and operations with REM Eyewear, SafiloUSA and most recently as COO of Todd Rogers Eyewear. She is Past President of the Opticians Association of America where she holds an active board position.

Dibby is a Past President of the Opticians Association of Massachusetts, where she has held a director position for 10 years. She is a former adjunct faculty member at Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology. She is also an Honored Fellow of the Opticians Association of America and a recipient of the OAM Presidents Award and the OAA’s State Leader of the Year. Dibby was voted one of Vision Mondays Most Influential Women in both 2018 and 2020. She was also the recipient of Eyecare Business’ GameChanger Award in 2020. She obtained her Massachusetts Opticians license in 1987 and is ABO certified. Dibby resides in Marshfield, Massachusetts with her husband and has two grown children.

 

 

Kathy Smith

Jennifer Hyde is the Executive Director of OneDollarGlasses USA. Jen became aware of the immensity of the unrefracted error problem in the developing world after a trip to the eyeglass store with her kids. Many questions later and hours of research at her kitchen table led her to OneDollarGlasses.

In the 1980’s, Jen worked in the Congo as a Peace Corps volunteer and became aware of the how the lack of access to basic health benefits (like eyeglasses) can significantly hold individuals back in their potential. Jen has worked in the environmental field and moved on to the field of international public health and vision correction. She has a Bachelor of Science from Bates College, a Masters of City Planning from MIT and an Opticianry degree from Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology. Jen is a Licensed Optician and serves on the Board of Directors of Vision of Hope, VOSH-ONE, and is a Committee Chair for VOSH International. Currently, she lives in Newton Massachusetts with her husband, David (ODG USA IT intern), children, Sam and Lucy, and a basement full of Lions Club recycled eyeglasses in her basement. "It’s a dream come true to be helping launch ODG USA!”

Stephane Cisse

Stéphane Cissé |© Isabella Bilger

Stéphane Cissé

Project Manager Burkina Faso

Alejandra Portillo

Alejandra Portillo |© Isabella Bilger

Alejandra Portillo

Project Manager Peru

Ralf Toenjes ©

Ralf Toenjes

Project Manager Brazil

My main goal is to use my knowledge to give back to society the support I have had over the years. In 2013 there was an opportunity that would change not only my life but that of thousands of people. After being recognized as a student leader by Unilever in 2013, I went to Mexico to participate in the Enactus World Cup, a competition that recognizes the best university projects with social impact.

There I met a group of German students who said that 150 million people around the world need glasses without the means to buy them. The students introduced the concept of OneDollarGlasses—the program they wanted to use to change that. That seemed like an interesting challenge to me ...

Soon after, I founded the VerBem company to offer an alternative with positive social effects on the Brazilian eyewear market that is aimed, not at profits, but at the visual health of the population. We have turned the simple task of buying glasses into an act of kindness for others. We are a young brand that tries to make a difference in a saturated market.

 

Max Steiner © Isabella Bilger

Max Steiner

Coordinator South and Central America, Project Manager Bolivia

After committed entrepreneurial years in Switzerland and Germany, in 2000 I founded a social youth foundation in Bolivia, the country of origin of my wife Martha, today my second home. Hostelling International Bolivia (HI-Bolivia) runs the national youth hostel, offers Spanish courses and organizes adventure trips in the Andes. All of this for almost 1,000 volunteers who have been involved in the foundation's many social projects over the past 15 years and who continue to contribute. Initially, it was primarily childcare centers in the country, but HIB soon expanded its help in the health sector, such as dental care, fluorination and mobile consultations in remote mountain areas up to 4000m high on the Sunny Island outside on Lake Titicaca.

While on an exchange program with the Institute for Geography at the University of Erlangen, I came across Martin Aufmuth’s OneDollarGlasses program at the end of 2012. Right then, I wanted to close this exact gap in Bolivia, too, and give the well over 150,000 locals with insufficient eyesight the option of affordable glasses and new life chances. Fascinated by the manufacturing process, I asked the OneDollarGlasses team to train local producers, who produced around 15,000 frames this year and can thus generate an income that was simply not there before.

How satisfying it is for me today to remember that the goal of the LENTES AL INSTANTE (the name of OneDollarGlasses in South America) campaign in 2017 is to do about 20,000 eye tests in places where the people have never seen an ophthalmologist.

I was very honored to be appointed OneDollarGlasses coordinator from South and Central America. In my role, on the one hand I work to strengthen the launched partner structures in Mexico and Brazil, and on the other hand to extend this valuable social project to other Andean countries such as Peru, Colombia and later Ecuador. In 2020, we want to work together on this continent to bring around 50,000 OneDollarGlasses to happy, needy people who will finally see better.

 

 

Prashant Pachisia |© Antje Christ

Prashant Pachisia

Project Manager India

Jo Neunert |© Jo Neunert

Jo Neunert

Country Coordinator Ethiopia

After years of experience in the town twinning of Vaterstetten with Alem Katema in Ethiopia, I was already fascinated by the idea of OneDollarGlasses in 2013. This is how the pilot test started in our partner clinic in Alem Katema, where glasses are manufactured and sold on a very small scale today. I continue to pursue attempts to broaden OneDollarGlasses in Ethiopia. The political framework gives hope, but it requires a lot of patience.

Karsten Wolf |© SNaumann Fotografie

Karsten Wolf

Member of the extended board

I am a member of the extended board and responsible for the areas of human resources, law and IT. I am also the contact person for the sister organizations ODG Switzerland and ODG USA.

What impresses me about the organization and my work is that we can help many people sustainably with our work. We not only offer basic optical care and high-quality glasses in many countries around the world, we also build permanent structures on site. We train people in our one-year training as GoodVision Technicians who can perform eye tests, recognize eye diseases and manufacture, adapt (and later repair if necessary) glasses.

This enables us to create jobs directly on site in production, sales and administrative offices. We offer a product and a service that people live on and that people can afford. In this way, we strengthen the community in the countries and regions in which we operate over the long term.

 

Blair Wong

Blair Wong is a Master Optician in Ophthalmic Optics and teaches at the New England College of Optometry (NECO), and is the department Chair and founder of the Eye Health Technology and Opticianry department at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology (BFIT). He is a past president and current executive director of the Opticians Association of Massachusetts (OAM), director to the American Board of Opticianry and National Contact Lens Examiners (ABO/NCLE).

At the age of 26, Blair was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, an incurable disease that leads to blindness. Since the disease is progressive, he began to redirect his focus toward a career as an educator in ophthalmic optics and eye health technology. Blair, through his membership with the Bay State Council for the Blind (BSCB), and as a client of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB), and the Carroll Center for the Blind, serves as an advocate for the visually impaired community.

Through the collaborative efforts and dedication of faculty and students at NECO and BFIT, eye exams and customized prescription glasses have been provided to vision needy school children and elderly citizens in Boston and surrounding areas. This interdisciplinary experience has empowered these children to regain their academic potential, social confidence and self esteem, and level of productivity through a simple pair of glasses.

 

Jennifer Hyde

Jennifer Hyde is the Executive Director of OneDollarGlasses USA. Jen became aware of the immensity of the unrefracted error problem in the developing world after a trip to the eyeglass store with her kids. Many questions later and hours of research at her kitchen table led her to OneDollarGlasses.

In the 1980’s, Jen worked in the Congo as a Peace Corps volunteer and became aware of the how the lack of access to basic health benefits (like eyeglasses) can significantly hold individuals back in their potential. Jen has worked in the environmental field and moved on to the field of international public health and vision correction. She has a Bachelor of Science from Bates College, a Masters of City Planning from MIT and an Opticianry degree from Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology. Jen is a Licensed Optician and serves on the Board of Directors of Vision of Hope, VOSH-ONE, and is a Committee Chair for VOSH International. Currently, she lives in Newton Massachusetts with her husband, David (ODG USA IT intern), children, Sam and Lucy, and a basement full of Lions Club recycled eyeglasses in her basement. "It’s a dream come true to be helping launch ODG USA!”

Marc Zedler

Marc Zedler |© Isabella Bilger

Marc Zedler

Projekt Manager Malawi