Does Seva take used eyeglasses?
No, because it is very costly and inefficient to collect, sort, package and ship used eyeglasses to the developing world. All of Seva’s programs train local people to become opticians and optometrists so that they can make glasses locally. In the countries where we work, adult eyeglass frames are available quite cheaply and Seva-trained eye-care professionals make glasses and sell them at a reasonable cost to those who can afford to pay. The sale of eyeglasses helps fund eye care for those too poor to pay. That being said, we do have an ongoing need for new infants’ and children’s eyeglass frames for our pediatric programs in eastern Africa and we are extremely grateful to the Canadian optical companies — OGI, Centennial Optical, Perfect Optical and Bo-Optik — for their very generous in-kind donations.
