Dream to end discrimination coming true
Advocate to speak to Rotary Club
Having seen a 2007 BBC report on the horrors faced by people with albinism in Tanzania, Canadian Peter Ash — himself a person with that condition — felt compelled to board a plane and see what, if anything, he could do.
Nothing could have prepared him for what he found.
Ash met with families whose children were literally hacked to pieces in front of them, their body parts used by witch doctors to create supposedly potent potions for those seeking power or money. During his first day in the African country, Ash met a woman who was forced to watch as her daughter’s arms and legs were severed by intruders.
“The screams of the victims enhance the power of the body part ...,” Ash said. “And the younger the victim, or the more pure the victim, the more powerful the magic.”
Powerful too was the impact on Ash who, although he’d personally dealt with plenty of stigma and discrimination in Canada, had never known of horrors like this.
“The very first night I went to Tanzania and heard this, I remember crying myself to sleep that night,” he recalled. “The stories, the details I heard, no one should ever have to hear. The pictures I saw of mutilated bodies of young children, mutilated in ways that you don’t want to imagine. And I came home and I thought to myself, ‘I have to do something.’ ”
Since no organization existed in Tanzania, Ash decided to create his own — Under the Same Sun. The charity works to help ease the plight of people with albinism in Tanzania by educating the public about the condition and ensuring children with albinism have access to a good, safe education.
Ash was invited to Regina to speak at a noon meeting to be held today by the Rotary Club of Regina, the cause being one the club is eager to back, said vice-president Ken Thiessen. Thiessen has known Ash for years and said he and the club want to help.
“We do a lot of stuff in the community, but we wanted to get involved internationally,” Thiessen explained. “We’ve typically done stuff around polio — because polio’s a big focus with Rotary — water projects, building schools.
And then when I heard there was a Rotary Club doing the Tanzania project with people with albinism, I called Peter and said, ‘Peter, do you know about this?’ and I brought it to our club ... Our club said ‘We want to get on board.’”
The challenges these children face are tremendous, Ash said. Besides the constant threat on their lives, stereotypes persist in which they are considered stupid, subhuman or even a curse, making a quality education next to impossible.
Under the Same Sun has made progress since Ash took up the cause, providing scholarships to children with albinism and enrolling them in high-quality private, secure schools — private because it allows the charity to step in on the occasions when they learn a staff member is being discriminatory.
The results — while likely not wholly surprising to Ash — have been enough to astound many in Tanzania. Children previously considered stupid are often the top achievers in class. In one case, a graduate with albinism went on to secure a job as an economist with Tanzania’s prime minister’s office.
“WE HAVE PROVEN THAT THE MYTH THAT
THEY ARE USELESS, STUPID, SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS IS NOT TRUE.” PETER ASH
“So we have proven that the myth that they are useless, stupid, second-class citizens is not true,” Ash said.
Since the project began, he’s noticed some other positive changes, signs perceptions might slowly be turning. Parents with affected children who hadn’t previously been involved with the charity are starting to enrol their kids in private schools, having seen proof that their children can indeed excel. And children without albinism — who make up the majority of the schools’ populations — are playing with and even asking for help from their often-gifted classmates, in turn providing help since those with albinism usually have a visual impairment.
“I always tell people that I have a dream one day that in Tanzania and in Africa that people with albinism will one day take their rightful place in every level of society and that the days of discrimination will be a faint memory,” Ash said. “They will simply have equal human rights to everybody else, and that’s really what motivates me. That’s what drives me.”
Those wanting more information or to donate can visit www.underthesamesun.com or the charity’s Facebook page. Regina and area residents can also help out by supporting a fundraiser being held by the Rotary Club on Thursday. Information can be found at reginarotary.org.