Rolled Sleeves Foundation · South Africa
The barrier is not only vision. It is access.
Rolled Sleeves Foundation works with school communities and eye-care partners to bring practical eye care closer to learners, connecting vision screening with appropriate assessment, glasses, low-vision support, education, referrals and follow-through.
Why vision matters
A vision need can become a barrier to learning.
Seeing the board. Reading written work. Following a lesson. Moving confidently around the classroom.
When a learner struggles to see, everyday parts of school can become harder. But identifying a vision need is only the beginning. Screening has limited value when learners cannot access the assessment, correction, assistive tools or follow-up they need afterwards.
Learn about vision and learningOur approach
We don't stop at screening.
Effective vision support requires a pathway from identifying a need to making sure the learner receives appropriate care.
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Screen
Identify potential vision needs.
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Examine
Connect learners who need further assessment with qualified eye-care professionals.
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Correct
Support access to appropriate prescription correction where clinically indicated.
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Equip
Provide suitable low-vision or assistive visual tools where needed.
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Teach
Help learners, families and educators understand the care and tools provided.
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Follow through
Track delivery, referrals and outstanding support needs.
Our work in practice
Impact starts with practical delivery, not promises.
Our World Sight Day outreach at Open Air School in Durban brought learners, educators and eye-care professionals together to identify vision needs and connect learners with appropriate support.
View the Open Air School programme
99
Learners screened
49
Spectacles dispensed
49
Additional laboratory orders
Our mission
To bring practical, appropriate vision care closer to learners who would otherwise struggle to access it.
Our vision
A South Africa where every learner can access the vision care, knowledge and tools they need to learn and participate fully.
Our story
Built from lived experience.
Rolled Sleeves Foundation was founded by Sanele Xaba from a personal understanding of how vision can shape a learner’s experience of education.
Living with visual impairment has made the barriers around access especially clear: identifying a vision need is only useful when there is a practical route to appropriate care, support and follow-through.
That perspective shaped Rolled Sleeves from the beginning. The Foundation was created not around pity or a single intervention, but around a simple question:
What happens after a learner’s vision need is identified?
Our work is built around helping school communities close that gap, working with eye-care professionals and partners to make appropriate support more reachable.
“Care becomes meaningful when it reaches the person who needs it.”Read our story
Work with us
Better access takes partnership.
Rolled Sleeves works with the people and organisations already connected to a learner's world.
Eye-care partners
Contribute professional expertise, examinations, referrals, treatment pathways or optical support.
Work with usFunders & companies
Fund practical vision access with clear programme delivery and impact reporting.
Explore partnershipsAccountability
The work should be visible. So should how we operate.
We believe responsible social-impact work requires clear governance, honest reporting and transparency about what has and has not been delivered.
Registration · Governance · Programme reporting · Policies
View transparency & governanceStart a conversation
If you can fund, deliver or strengthen school vision care, let’s talk.
We welcome enquiries from CSI teams, schools, eye-care professionals, suppliers and media partners.
View all contact options