A fundraiser to help albinos in the East African country of Tanzania and other parts of Africa will be held Saturday October 23 at the Sheraton hotel in the city of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
A Canadian non-governmental organization, Under the Same Sun (UTSS) is organizing the fundraiser and it was found in 2008, by a Surrey man, Peter Ash(photo), who is himself a person with albinism, a genetic condition which, among other things,results in significantly reduced vision.
UTSS, according to its webiste (www.underthesamesun.com) was formed as a direct response to the current atrocities on persons with albinism in East Africa and other parts of Africa.
The organization’s aims are, among other things, to promote via advocacy and education, the wellbeing of persons often marginalized and misunderstood, with special emphasis on those disadvantaged by disability and/or poverty. UTSS’s efforts at the moment are however solely focused on persons with albinism in Tanzania, a country where such persons are in serious danger because of cultural and other beliefs (see video).
Information on albinism in the Canadian population is difficult to come by, the ones easily available are often outdated and very sketchy. Albinos in West African countries like Sierra Leone are organizing themselves, according to informed sources. Their situation, in terms of persecution, however seems to be milder compared to those in East Africa.
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