On the floating islands of Puno

 The team of GoodVision (Peru) was recently in a very special place: on the floating islands of Puno in Lake Titicaca.  

Lake Titicaca is the largest freshwater lake in South America and is located almost 4,000 meters above sea level on the Altiplano, the plateau in the Andes.

The Urus are an indigenous ethnic group that has been at home around Lake Titicaca for thousands of years.  

The more than 50 floating islands of the Urus are made of totora reeds, as are their houses and boats. The few hundred men, women and children on the islands lead a simple life. They live from fishing and the sale of handicrafts to tourists. There is no hospital or ophthalmologist’s office here. 

Our team was even more warmly welcomed – a total of over 360 eye tests were carried out within two weeks. In the end, 186 people happily returned to their islands with their glasses and a new view of the world. 

GoodVision (Peru) has been active in Peru since 2019. Initially, they started with a mobile team around the capital Lima. In the meantime, two teams are working on providing the poor population with glasses.