Organisation: Renovatio
Location: Brazil

Renovatio is taking ophthalmology to the most remote and vulnerable places in Brazil With vehicles adapted into mobile eye clinics. Vertr Institute works together Renovatio.

Renovatio's story is evidence that every initiative can transform realities. Every consultation counts, every pair of eyeglasses donated counts, every story counts.

Anyone who sees Lorrayne’s wide smile cannot imagine the difficult life she had because of strabismus until she was 30. As a child, she faced a lot of bullying and hurtful nicknames filled with prejudice. In her youth, she was often asked uncomfortable questions like, “Where are you looking?” Lorrayne suffered, but there was nothing she could do. She wore an eye patch until she was 8, but it didn’t bring satisfactory results. She needed surgery but couldn’t afford the R$ 10,000 cost.

She consulted doctors during her teenage years, but the procedure she needed was considered cosmetic, and public health insurance didn’t cover it. She cried because of bullying, and her mother would always go to school to complain, but it was in vain.

The situation changed when Lorrayne discovered the Verter Institute, which made her surgery possible for free. The tears she shed after removing the bandages revealed the depth of her emotion after so long searching for a solution. She stopped wearing the dark-tinted glasses she used to hide her strabismus, stopped taking photos looking down, saw her self-esteem soar, and eventually became a volunteer at Verter, helping others who, like her, need free treatment.