Yoff, Senegal – A French volunteer is delivering crucial aid to the fishing village of Yoff, focusing on immediate needs and long-term safety for local fishermen. The effort highlights a growing trend of individuals taking direct action to address challenges in communities facing limited resources.
Sunglasses and School Supplies: A Lifeline for Yoff
The initiative provides essential items like eyewear, school materials, and internet access to a Senegalese village largely unsupported by formal aid organizations.
- Jérôme Cruchet has been making regular trips to Yoff, Senegal, with donations collected from individuals and brands.
- A key focus is providing sunglasses to fishermen to combat retina damage caused by sun glare on the water.
- The effort extends to providing school supplies, internet access, and safety training for divers.
- The association relies entirely on personal savings and donations, receiving no external subsidies.
For his fifth mission, Jérôme Cruchet arrived in Yoff with volunteers and several suitcases brimming with donations. He explained, “We bring them sunglasses that we collect from individuals or brands. For example, I collected 1,300 pairs of glasses yesterday. Giving them glasses helps reduce their retina damage, because they have a lot of reverberation problems. They leave without protection, and they unfortunately come back with burnt eyes, especially since they have no optician and no ophthalmologist there.”
But the support doesn’t stop at eye protection. Football clothes, balls, school supplies, phones, tablets, and laptops are also being delivered to the village. “I just installed the Internet in February with four computers in the school, and I also collected school items from the big section to CM2,” Cruchet added.
Addressing a Silent Danger at Sea
The initiative also tackles a critical, often overlooked, safety issue: diving. Cruchet brings diving gear and shares his expertise with local divers. “I bring diving gear, and I try to bring my experience to the divers. There were 163 in February, unfortunately there are only 161 left, two of them did not come back because they have no knowledge of the dangerous environment, the gestures, the decompression stops… I try to give conferences, briefings, accident simulations. I’m lucky enough to be followed by Senegalese television, everything is filmed, and it’s getting a lot of coverage. I give them help, even if it’s just a drop in the ocean.”
Today, the association operates solely on Cruchet’s savings and the generosity of donors. He plans to return in January with four volunteers, one of whom he met while exploring the coves of Piana.
“There are many ways to support me,” Cruchet said. “The first is to follow me on social networks and share. The second is to send me donations. I have a postal address, and I have already received 45 packages this summer. And finally, I have an online fundraiser where people can give me money to help me cover my transportation costs and my expenses there on site. My mission is to bring them a little well-being, but also to appease the French who no longer give because they don’t know where things are going. I don’t want to change things, but I just want to tell them that if they just give me a pair of glasses, it helps me a lot.”
