Celebrating with People with Albinism

The other week we celebrated in Mwanza the 10th Anniversary of Under the Same Sun, the NGO working to help people with albinism overcome often deadly discrimination through education and advocacy. It was a fantastic opportunity to appreciate as well as celebrate all that UTSS have achieved in these years to help and empower people with albinism!

At the Anniversary Celebration

Rachel speaks on behalf of the Upendo wa Mama women

As well as the celebrations, the Upendo wa Mama group was pleased to welcome Peter Ash, the founder of UTSS, and his team to visit our workshop. We were able to show him the work the women are involved in and serve them all some chai and honey spice cake! We are excited that Under the Same Sun is going to support the mamas group financially as we start a Social Enterprise Bakery and the team was also able to visit the neighbouring site for that. Watch this space … plans are underway and renovations could start very soon!

Peter looks at the all work the Mamas are doing

Site of the new bakery! 

After the Anniversary Celebrations, UTSS hosted a 4-day seminar on trauma counselling with Dr Rhodes. There were over 100 participants who work with people with albinism, including teachers, school matrons, doctors and nurses, social welfare officers and church leaders.

Dr Rhodes teaching the trauma counselling seminar

We joined the UTSS Canada and Tanzania teams at Pastor Charles Mkumbo's church in Mkuyuni on the Sunday before events began. It was wonderful to also have all the children on the UTSS school sponsorship program come from the Musabe Schools for the services. On the following Sunday, we joined the Dar and Mwanza UTSS teams and Dr Rhodes at MICC. Again, it was so great to see all the children there! It was lovely to see them treated with honour and respect as they were saved the centre front seats so that they could see well! As Tim prepares to present next month at the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology on the role of the Church for the Reconciliation of People with Albinism, we are thinking more about how the church together can step up in their role in fighting this battle.

MICC

Many of you have long been following our journey with people with albinism, particularly with the lovely women in the Upendo wa Mama Group, and we are so thankful for your prayers. The atrocities faced by people with albinism have been sadly too real. Witchcraft remains as real and powerful as ever, as you may have seen in recent reports on the child murders here and in Njombe(and these are children without albinism). But we pray and work for change. And it is so wonderful to hear the testimonies of the young people who have been through the UTSS education program and been forever transformed! It is so encouraging to hear the testimonies of the mamas and see the hope they have. May the power of love and life through our God be ever powerfully at work against the powers of evil and darkness!