Our team and collaborators

Luz Carmona

Founder, Light Without Borders

Luz Carmona has made working with and helping refugees and disadvantaged peoples an integral part of her life and travels. She started projects in south east Asia and the Americas to freely dispense standard prescription glasses. She saw the remarkable transformation that occurs when people are given back their sight.

Luz came to Greece in 2016 to help, initially working with Dr. Marselos Rallidis. She registered Light Without Borders as an NGO in June 2017, and opened the LWB clinic in Moria camp in February 2018. Since then the clinic has seen nearly 1600 patients. The relevance of the project and Luz’s dedication and determination to do good has facilitated partnerships with many other NGOs, and has enthused optometrists, ophthalmologists, and many others to volunteer their services.

Luz is also skilled in the making and uses of flower essences, which she gives to help people cope with emotional complaints.

 

 

Dr Marselos Rallidis

Ophthalmologist

Dr. Rallidis provides free consultations in his clinic in Mytilene, Lesvos, to those patients seen in the Light Without Borders clinic who need specialist ophthalmic therapy.

A very special thank you to Dr. Marcelos Rallidis who from the start has provided amazing help and advice to make Light Without Borders a success.

Enrique Ordiñaga Monreal

Clinical Optometrist

Enrique has publicised the work of LWB through social and professional networks, and has contacted other organisations and NGOs to see how they could collaborate. This has been very successful.

Enrique is now working with the Etnia Barcelona Foundation to rapidly supply prescription glasses. This amazing scheme will radically improve our service. The prescriptions will be shared electronically and new glasses made and delivered to the clinic in Moria within days. 

ETNIA BARCELONA FOUNDATION is the solidarity project of ETNIA BARCELONA
“This foundation was created with the objective of providing vision care and providing assistance to the most vulnerable families achieving a better view for them and a better quality of life.”

José María Vílchez

Ophthalmologist

José clearly saw that many refugees in Greece and elsewhere needed better medical care. He learned of Light Without Borders and has twice worked in the clinic as a volunteer ophthalmologist, and is keen to return in the near future.

He has expressed his belief in the importance of the Light Without Borders clinic to remain open and to be supported.

José has worked as an ophthalmologist at the Hospital de Alcalá la Real in Granada for the last 15 years.

Marina Martín

Optometrist

Marina came to the LWB clinic as a volunteer optometrist in February 2019 and continues to give valuable assistance.  

In her optician’s shop in Madrid, Marina has manufactured and assembled many prescription lenses using  the frames chosen by the patients in the LWB clinic. Marina has also donated many new frames and lenses for LWB. She also advises on best practice in operating an optometry clinic, designing forms, auditing the collection of glasses, and updating the databases.

Marina is also helping to raise funds by selling our bags and bracelets. She hopes to return to the clinic again.

Ana González Moreno

Optometrist

During the summers of 2017 and 2018, Ana did voluntary work in different locations in Greece, for example distributing food and clothes to refugees, and with Coastwatch.

Ana became involved with Light Without Borders in 2019, and currently provides support from Spain. She uses social media and appearances at medical conferences to publicise the activities of Light Without Borders. She has also collected, cleaned and catalogued 600 pairs of glasses for the clinic. Ana is making plans to volunteer at the clinic.

Ana has a degree in Optics and Optometry from the University of Sevilla.

The Prison Opticians Trust

The Prison Opticians Trust is a UK charity that trains prisoners how to make prescription glasses and then helps them secure meaningful work in the optics industry.

The Prison Opticians Trust provided the clinic with an amazing piece of kit (a Tonoref III autorefractor) to test a patient’s vision and gave training in its use and in basic refraction.

The Prison Opticians also make prescription glasses for our patients in Lesvos free of charge. The glasses are made in their prisoner training optical lab using frames and lenses that have been generously donated to the Trust by Specsavers Opticians.

Both prisoners and refugees benefit from this relationship – the former get more experience and the latter get to see clearly again.

The Prison Opticians Trust is associated with the retailer JustSpecs.

Barraquer Foundation

Ophthalmic institute, Barcelona

Since 2013, the Barraquer Foundation has provided generous support to the Light to your Eyes projects and to Light Without Borders, providing glasses for the project.

Their mission statement is: “The Barraquer Foundation will work to provide eye health care through ophthalmological assistance to people with few resources, regardless of nationality, home and abroad. This will include the creation of lasting and stable partnerships with entities located in disadvantaged countries in order to train specialists where they are most needed, to promote research and to provide grant scholarships for young ophthalmologists.”

Barraquer Foundation

Light Without Borders collaborates in Lesvos with the following organisations, which refer patients to our clinic:

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