Footballer Ansu Fati of FC Barcelona is offering free eye surgeries to hundreds of Guineans across the country, who are being treated by a team of ten doctors he sent from Catalonia to Bissau.
Since last Monday, the Casa Emanuel orphanage on the outskirts of the Guinean capital has become a go-to place for people of all ages hoping to undergo treatment for cataract surgery.
The Spanish medical team – doctors and nurses – is fully occupied. The goal is to operate on at least 500 people before they return to Catalonia.
The Casa Emanuel shelter, run by missionaries from Costa Rica, has undergone renovations paid for by the Ansu Fati Foundation and now houses a modern operating room built by Spanish doctors.
The operations are carried out using a laser and patients pay nothing, said Lusa Campum Mane, Ansu Fati’s uncle and coordinator of the initiative, which he considers “Ansu’s retribution for everything he has achieved in football”.
“For reference, in Spain, each eye operation like this costs three thousand euros. Here in Guinea, with the help of the Ansu Fati Foundation, we do it for free,” said Campoum Mané, the cousin of the Barcelona player’s father.
In 2023, the Ansu Fati Foundation took the same initiative in eastern Guinea-Bissau, paying for cataract surgeries for 300 people.
In the future, the Bissau-born player plans to develop projects in the fields of education and social infrastructure, Campum Mane said.
“Through his foundation, his goal is to share with the children of Guinea what he earns from football,” said the player’s uncle.
Casa Emanuel is usually visited by pregnant women, but in recent days it has seen an unusual influx of adults, especially older people with vision problems.
Joaquim Eanes is a 65-year-old former teacher and now a soldier, but ten years ago he lost most of his sight due to cataracts in both eyes.
Ines underwent surgery on his right eye on Tuesday and before the medical team returns to Spain, he hopes his vision problem will be solved by removing a cataract in his left eye.
Joaquim Eanes thanks Ansu Fati, whom he wishes “all the best in his football career”.
Uncle Campoum Mane promises to express “great satisfaction” that “many Guineans have had their vision problem solved” thanks to the Ansu Fati Foundation.