Didn’t end up waking up for the Canucks game at 3am last night L But super excited they won!!!!!! Go Canucks Go! J This morning six of us went to a non-profit Canadian organization (NGO) founded in 2008, called Under the Same Sun, here’s the website http://www.underthesamesun.com/
They are dedicated to protecting, educating and advocating for persons with albinism (PWA) here in Africa. It was really interesting and I’m glad I went! They were very welcoming and passionate about their work. The organization has 10 albino’s and three black’s working for them at the moment. Their main office is in Canada and their other one is here in Dar es Salaam, the one we just visited. The owner of the organization, Peter Ash, is from Langley, British Columbia and is a person with albinism! I think its great there is an office here in Dar because albinism is quite prevalent in Africa, more so than in the rest of the world, with around 1 in 2,000 people being born with albinism. We went into a conference room where we were given a talk about some background information about albinism, what it is, and what Under the Same Sun does. Their focus is on education and advocacy because one of the main reasons why they are discriminated against is due to lack of education about what albinism really is. A lot of stigma is in the rural areas and it’s precisely because they look different. Albinism is a risk factor for abuse, skin cancer, discrimination, and murder. We were told that around 93% of the population of Tanzania believes in witchcraft and many of these beliefs correspond with the idea that albinism is a curse and that the child should be killed at birth. If the child is not killed at birth they are generally killed later in life or hunted down for their organs and limbs. The myth is that these body parts will create wealth in the person or persons who possess them by bringing them to witch doctors to put in potions. In most instances when an albino is killed, it is secret and the bodies are buried inside homes and the rest of the community believes that the person has just ‘vanished’ contributing to the witchcraft idea. An albino’s leg bone is believed to bring its owner to places where gold is buried similar to a metal detector and then the fresh blood is used to pour over the spot and the direction that it trickles will indicate the exact area where to dig to find the gold. Hair is used to sprinkle in ocean and lakes and believed to bring fish. It was a privilege to talk to these people who are going through these difficulties of threat and discrimination because they are very underrepresented and often ignored throughout the world, yet in many cases need the most help. In Dar es Salaam, they are African’s but discouraged from being part of the culture with feelings of being outcasts and evil curses just because of their pigmentation. 
It makes me sad that people have had to die because of ignorance and lack of education. Beliefs and myths can be so powerful and concrete that they persist even with education. The government, state, big shots and many others are often educated about people with albinism but fail to acknowledge their rights because of the dominant belief of witchcraft and the normalness of corruption in Africa. Many cases of murder are unreported because of this corruption. The other two major reasons for lack of conviction is the fear related to witchcraft and those in power, and also because of the culture of secrecy. The cause of albinism is genetic, therefore it’s not contagious, it’s not magic, and it definitely doesn’t make them less of a person than you or I. For an infant to get albinism, both their mother and father must be carrying a recessive gene and that child must inherit both those recessive genes. Therefore, a child with albinism can often have black siblings and both of their parents can also be black. They can also have black children if their partner doesn’t have the recessive gene or if the child doesn’t inherit two recessive genes for the trait.
One of the many things I learned today was that almost all people with albinism are visually impaired, have low vision, or are blind. We were invited to come back to the office later in June to attend a meeting with a low vision specialist who is coming to provide eye exams and eye health for the students enrolled in the education scholarship fund (a fund created by Under the Same Sun to fund vulnerable people with albinism to go through school, get education, health care, sun screen, long sleeved shirts, hats, sunglasses, and medication for skin cancer. Another thing they provide to their students is self-awareness (which made me very happy to hear being a psych student) so they can have a better understanding of who they are and how they fit in so they can move forward with increased self-esteem; they currently have 318 students!). They also work alongside the Red Cross and Unicef. I left having a better understanding of not only albinism but also about disadvantaged groups as a whole. As we were leaving they provided us with posters and a documentary movie, as well as a group photo!
After the meeting, we stopped at this little bakery down the road from us and got samosas for lunch (again!). It only cost me about $1 for three samosas and they are so delicious! At 3pm I went to boona baana (Jodi’s last day L). The kids were really sad to see her go. We also played another awesome game of soccer, it was so much fun and L made a movie for us out of all the pictures we have taken from boona baana so far! Tonight was also my night to cook dinner for the group so we made a pilau rice with mixed vegetables and spices inside pineapple bowls and heated in the oven! I got the idea from the Kunduchi restaurant because that’s what I had for lunch the other day! Our taxi driver, Yona, came over for dinner and ended up showing us how to make a traditional Tanzanian rice pilau and it was to die for! There was coriander, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, and garlic in it plus a bunch of cut up veggies! He also showed us how to make the yummiest prawns ever! It was a great dinner! 
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