Foreword: About Our Partners

Because IVO has two scopes for the Zambia mission, we have partnered with two organizations: International Vision Volunteers (IVV) and Kocebuka Community Foundation.

International Vision Volunteers:

IVV (with IVVC as the Canadian association) is an American-based charity made up of a variety of doctors who hold two-week eye camps every 3-4 months at Zimba Eye Clinic. In 2001, the clinic was built with funds from IVV and Rotary International. IVV hires local staff as interpreters and assistants for the duration of the eye camps, and an administrator and manager full-time. They rely heavily on donations in hopes to hire a local, full-time ophthalmologist for Zimba Eye Clinic to help serve the needs of the locals year-round.

IVV and IVO both collected donations from Alcon, Bausch & Lomb, and Allergan, and combined our supplies at Zimba Eye Clinic. These supplies, including viscoelastic, IOL lenses, glaucoma and post-operative eye drops, and surgical supplies, will be used for the current two-week and future eye camps.

To learn more about IVV please visit www.IVVUSA.org and www.IVVC.ca

Kocebuka Community Foundation:

Founded in 2009 by Zimba local Passwell Nyambe, Kocebuka began as a charity to aid those dying from HIV who had no palliative care or family to help them. After formation, the members realized the number of vulnerable groups in the Zimba area, including children (many orphaned from parents with HIV), disabled individuals (outcast because there are very few aids and teachers trained to take care of them), and women (due to cultural and societal implications). Kocebuka is a small foundation of 5 members relying solely on donations and funding from charities. Having Passwell and his members in Zimba while we were planning in Canada has been vital, as he pre-organized everything that we couldn’t have done overseas. When collaborating with Kocebuka through Passwell, we identified two key areas that we felt IVO could effectively address during our time here. These areas are 1) computer education for teachers and students, and 2) climate change adaptation through livelihood for students and women’s groups, with a focus on the effects of deforestation. These two areas are sometimes closely linked, as many Zambians are unaware of the effects of deforestation due to the large information gap and lack of computers and internet. We will discuss these issues more in our blog posts throughout the next couple of weeks.

-Katie