Parent of a Child with Albinism

In Tanzania, a country in east Africa, more than 28 people with albinism, including a 7-month old baby, have been murdered.  Their body parts are being sold to witchdoctors to be made into potions.  It is a widespread belief that these potions bring riches and have magical powers.

I first started hearing about this unbelievably horrible situation back in June through my Google Alerts that led me to the following news article: Albinos, Long Shunned, Face Threat in Tanzania.  Not long after that, on the Positive Exposure blog , Rick Guidotti mentioned that he was planning to travel to Tanzania in October to address the situation.  I continued receiving news and blog alerts over the last few months including alerts to these articles:  Fighting the Stigma of Albinism and The Albinism Murders in Tanzania.

Finally, there is a way everyone can help.  Last month, I received an email from NOAH about the organization, Under the Same Sun.  The Under The Same Sun Fund is a Canadian nonprofit organization headed up by Peter Ash.  Peter is a person with albinism, who is also a business leader and member of NOAH.  Under the Same Sun has partnered with Rick Guidotti of Positive Exposure and they will be leaving for Tanzania on October 19th to try to help the albinism community there.  They have put together a petition to present to the Tanzanian government, condemning the murders of 28 people with albinism so far this year.  The currently have over 4000 signatures and are hoping to have at least 10,000 before they leave.

Please sign the petition on the Under The Same Sun website and email everyone you know asking them to do the same.

Recently, our family has been reconnected with the Parents as Teachers program.  We first participated in the program 5 years ago in a different school district, with Dominick.

Parents as Teachers (PAT) is an early childhood parent and family support program serving families throughout pregnancy until their child enters kindergarten, usually age 5.  Here are the goals of the program from the PAT website:

Program Goals
* Increase parent knowledge of early childhood development and improve parenting practices
* Provide early detection of developmental delays and health issues
* Prevent child abuse and neglect
* Increase children’s school readiness and school success

This FREE early childhood program is for ALL children, not just children who have a delay in their development. Parents are supported by PAT-certified parent educators who provide home visits every 6-8 weeks. At each visit, in addition to offering developmental screenings, a parent educator will bring activities to do with your child to help enhance his/her language development, intellectual growth, social development and motor skills. (more…)

A couple of weeks ago, our family attended the 2008 NOAH National Conference in Las Vegas.  I was getting ready to write this post and I was having trouble remembering everything I learned at the conference.  We had a great time and I learned a lot and met a lot of people, but honestly, it’s kind of like this picture above…a big blurrrrr… (more…)