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More than 400 people received free cataract surgery in Cape Verde thanks to the initiative ‘Let Your Eyes Enjoy!’
Subsidiary of the Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company – in collaboration with Elena Barraquer Foundation and Ruta de la Luz, provided free cataract surgery in Cape Verde last week; from the 25th to the 31st of March. More than 400 people received free cataract surgery thanks to the initiative and more than 500 children received free eye tests. In addition, more than 360 glasses are being donated to those children who need them.
A team of 14 members took on the task of implementing the project in Cape Verde. Elena Barraquer headed a team of 10 volunteers from her namesake foundation, while Sonia Ventosa, Public Affairs & Communications Manager at Equatorial Coca-Cola, and two volunteers from Ruta de la Luz completed the team. Together, they worked to bring better eyesight – and smiles – to the people of Cabo Verde at the Hospital Agostinho Neto in Praia.
Let your eyes enjoy! represents the combined efforts of three key collaborators. The role of Cavibel; a subsidiary of Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company, the official bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola products in 13 countries in North and West Africa; was to prepare all the necessary groundwork for the surgeries to take place smoothly. For its part, the Elena Barraquer Foundation, a non-profit organization on a mission “to return eyesight to the greatest number of people”, contributed its equipment and personnel to carry out the operations. Finally, Ruta de la Luz of the Cione Group of Opticians, a foundation that seeks to improve the visual health of disadvantaged populations, gave free eye tests and donated glasses to those who needed them.
Working together in this manner, this collaboration follows the ‘Golden Triangle’ partnership model, a structure aimed at leveraging the strengths and abilities of three groups: Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company and the wider Coca-Cola system; NGO partners like the Elena Barraquer Foundation, Ruta de la Luz and Medshare; and the governments of the countries where Let your eyes enjoy! takes place.
“Through this project, Cavibel hopes to strengthen its ties with the citizens of Cape Verde by providing treatment for those affected by cataracts. Let Your Eyes Enjoy! exemplifies not only our commitment to visual health in the region but also the daily life of our communities”, remarked Hernidia Tavares, Marketing & Communications Manager at Cavibel.
Similar actions have been carried out in the past by Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company in partnership with the Barraquer Foundation, created in 2003 by the renowned Spanish ophthalmologist Professor Joaquín Barraquer, together with his son Rafael and daughter Elena. It is Elena who now heads the Elena Barraquer Foundation, which has chosen to give continuity to over 5 years of collaboration between the family and the African Coca-Cola bottler. Both organizations aim to do more and more to improve the visual health of the less fortunate citizens of the world.
About Equatorial Coca-Cola
Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company (ECCBC) started in 1989 in Africa with the concession of Equatorial Guinea. Subsequently, other countries such as Guinea Conakry, Mauritania, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and The Gambia, joined the venture. ECCBC was founded in 1997 as a new company to combine the operations of all these countries. Last two decades ECCBC has expanded operations to Ghana, Morocco and Algeria, and today operates in 13 countries in Africa and employs more than 5000 people, the organization produces, markets and distributes world famous soft drinks including Coke, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. ECCBC participates alongside The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation in projects that focus on improving education, the access to drinking water, health, entrepreneurial spirit and sustainability.
