You are more than a decade linked with Eyes of the world, Why did you decide to collaborate? How do you value your experience along these years?
When they told me about the Foundation’s project for the first time, I was impressed with what it means for the people that lost their vision, to see again. I was eager to help and above all, to feel that the help was really going somewhere. That was why I decided to get to know what the Foundation did, and I became involved rapidly.
In 2006 you traveled to the Sahara. Any pleasant memory or anecdote that you keep from that trip?
I needed to acknowledge in situ the result of my effort as a volunteer and the energy of many other people and institutions that were also supporting Eyes of the world. My experience in the camps was really shocking, like of the other volunteers that traveled to the Sahara. The conditions in which the Saharawis live impressed me and I became aware of the isolation of the population. They have been refugees for 40 years, and they still dream about getting their country!
You have been collaborating in the organization of La Nit dels Ulls del món for many years. Which is the success of this dinner? What motivates you to implicate yourself in the celebration of this event?
The Night is a magic act. Every year a very special ambient is created, almost transcendent. Through images and brief speeches, we get the people who assist to feel close to the projects of the Foundation, to its mission, to its successes. It is not a gala dinner, as many others, instead you feel the seriousness, solidarity, and proximity. Furthermore, is a dinner in which practically everything is ceded, and it is very comforting the response of all the people that implicate in this event.
And where is planned the next solidary dinner?
This year 2016 will be celebrated in Barcelona. The idea is to organize the dinner alternatively in different cities: one year in Barcelona, where are the headquarters of Eyes of the world, and another one outside, in another town of the Iberic peninsula. Last year we were farther, in Lugano.
You are also involved with the Art Fund Visions, the collection of solidary art of the Foundation, How can art help in the tasks you do?
Thanks to art, in the Foundation we get two primary goals. On the one hand, to collect the resources we need for the execution of the projects, and on the other hand, to sensitize the people. The works of art of the solidary artists help us to create a chain of people interested in art and also sensitive to causes such as blindness, which won’t just imply all of us but that is also easily avoidable. The expositions are important via to make known the artworks of the fund.
Do you remember a case that specially made you emotional along this decade?
I am moved by the answers of some artists or people to our petitions to join our project. These answers, honest, generous, give meaning to my effort as volunteer of the Foundation.
Could you tell us three words that for you define the work of the Foundation?
Effectiveness, ambition in the projects, perseverance.
And to finish, which projects do you have in mind related to our Foundation?
Lately, I’m contacting very famous artists at the international level to encourage them to join the fight against the preventable blindness and donate work to the Foundation. I am delighted to have the opportunity to get closer to them and their interests, motivations, etc.