What is it about ?
Mr. Mamour Kamara, son of the optician employed by the Program for the Prevention and Fight against Blindness (PPFB) in St-Louis, Senegal, has long been interested in optics and wishes to pursue a career in this field. Since there are no official and complete training programs in optics in this country, and in order to make the services offered by the PPFB viable, IRIS Mundial agreed in 2021 to finance his studies for two years at the Centre de Formation Technique et Professionnelle (CFTP) in Optics based in Bamako, Mali, a country bordering Senegal. This will allow him to obtain a senior technician’s diploma in order to take over from his father at the PPFB when he retires!
In November 2021, Mr. Kamara moved to Mali to begin his first year of studies in the program. Grateful for this great opportunity, he told us after his first year: “As an optical student at the CFTP in Bamako, I had the honour to benefit from diligent, curious and enthusiastic supervisors. They provided me quality work through individual and collective exercises. After only one year of training, I am already beginning to master optics and I would be able to work in any optical laboratory.”
Mr. Kamara was back in the country in the summer of 2022, but this time in the capital city of Dakar for a 3-month internship that concluded his first-year program. He is hosted by the eyewear department of the Ahmadou Malick GAYE – Union pour la Solidarité et l’Entraide (CAMG USE) Centre which is a professional training and integration association for young people. In the context of his internship, he told us that he was working with different equipment from the ones of his training school, allowing him to perfect his skills and knowledge thanks to new tools. “For example, we work with an automatic lensmeter, a modern instrument that measures the power of the lenses in a pair of glasses. However, to be able to work with this equipment, you absolutely have to understand the prescriptions. I am also able to mount and fit pairs of glasses without problems with a new automatic device that I have learned to use.”
He also told us that he participated in the mobile clinics organized by the centre one weekend a month. During these clinics, he supported the team and the optometrists by taking the visual acuity of patients, among other things. “I learn a lot from these experienced professionals. I also learned the meaning of teamwork, which is very important to me to work in this field.”
Finally, after two years of hard work, we are pleased to announce that Mamour graduated on April 10, 2023, and obtained his optical technician certificate. He will soon start working at the St-Louis PPFB and will be able to take over in the coming years. Bravo Mamour ! IRIS Mundial was delighted with the news reported by Mr. Kamara during his journey and was happy to support him financially in his studies in order to contribute to the professional succession of the St. Louis PPFB employees!
In the pictures above, here is Mr. Kamara in the optical workshop of the centre where his internship took place in the summer of 2022. He is in company of his two internship supervisors, an optician and an optometrist. He told us that they were wonderful people and always available to help him in his training!