Through the lens of COMPASSION

Armed with the belief that private corporations should use their resources to effect positive change, Yvonne Siow was instrumental in starting the Essilor Vision Foundation 10 years ago. Today, the Asean head of the post-merger Onesight EssilorLuxottica Foundation tells us how giving back has become a family affair.

- Cheryl Lai-Lim

Imagine this: Your eyeglasses have the wrong prescription, and you’ve spent your life navigating the world in a constant state of disorientation, plagued by dizziness. To make matters worse, you lack the financial means to have your eyes examined, and the only pair of glasses you own is held together by tape.

This was a scenario that Yvonne Siow, Asean head of the Onesight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, the philanthropic arm of European eyewear maker EssilorLuxottica, recently encountered with a malnourished child during a mission trip to the slums in the Philippines.

“He was probably about 10 years old, but he looked like five,” she recalls. He approached Yvonne and her team with a pair of spectacles that was broken into three pieces and haphazardly taped together because he couldn’t afford to get them fixed. “The lenses were so thick that he looked like a goldfish swimming in a fishbowl,” recounts Yvonne.

He confided that he experienced relentless dizziness. It was that moment when a dedicated volunteer sensed something was wrong with the boy’s prescription. An eye examination was quickly conducted, which confirmed their suspicions – his vision prescription was completely wrong.

“We immediately processed a pair of spectacles with the right prescription to be made for him. The very next day, when he received his new spectacles, we also gifted him a storybook. His reaction was nothing short of magical. He lit up with joy as he looked at the pictures and began to read. The teacher was so surprised that he knew how to read,” recounts Yvonne. “She actually told us that she thought the kid was dumb. Can you imagine? He was labelled dumb because his vision was impaired, yet, in reality, he is an exceptionally intelligent and highly capable young individual.”