In 1978 and 1979 I was a junior counselor at Camp Wapanaki, A camp for visually impaired kids in northeastern Vermont.  I was 16 and 17 respectively, and although, I only spent parts of two summers there, that experience changed my life.  From learning to be a care giver to blind and partially sighted kids to learning to drink cheap wine with my buddies on my days off, Hardwick, Vermont was the primary setting for my coming of age story. Both summers I was assigned to junior high aged boys, and both summers I had a Canadian kid in my cabin named Peter Ash.  Peter had visual impairment as a result of albinism.  I remember him as bright, articulate, and a big fan of late 70's top 40 music (think Copacabana, Forever in Blue Jeans, etc.)  I never thought much about Peter in the 41 years since my last summer at Wapanaki.  He was a kid among hundreds of kids I've worked with over the years.  Recently we reconnected.

It was parent-teacher conference night where I teach, and there was a 20 minute break between meetings.  Off the cuff, I thought I should teach my class about persecuted people groups.  I teach in a Christian school, after all, and broadening worldview and encouraging empathy should be high priorities.  Googling "persecuted peoples, 2020" I was surprised when the first site that came up included "Albinos in sub Saharan  Africa" among the 10 most highly persecuted people groups in the world today.  Of course, the internet is full of dubious information, so I dug deeper. Sure enough reliable sources from the BBC to Time Magazine have covered, albeit minimally, the mistreatment of people with albinism in almost every African country south of the Sahara Desert.

The persecution stems from a millennia old superstition that albinos are ghosts or demons who possess magical properties.  Witch doctors (no, witch doctors are not just a thing of Gilligan's Island reruns.  There are, I read ,3000 'registered' witch doctors in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's capital city.  For comparison, New York City has about twice the population of Dar es Salaam and has approximately 1700 Catholic Priests. ) use body parts from albinos in magical potions.  Consequentially, Africans with albinism are being attacked, dismembered and sometimes murdered for parts from teeth and hair to bones and limbs.  Corpses of people with albinism are being dug up and sold on the black market.  Tanzanian politicians have been known to go to witches for potions made with albino body parts to help their chances to be reelected. 

(On a side note, this clearly defies the naive postmodern idea that all cultural practices and all religious belief systems are equally acceptable.  I'm not preaching colonialism here, but come on.  Jesus healing the blind and Paul's teaching that all races and social standings are one in Christ put this barbarism to shame.)

While this seems hard to believe, I have been in remote parts of Uganda where life really hasn't changed much over the centuries.  Children who saw me and my caucasian wife and daughter sometimes screeched in panic and ran away.  I have been to places where there was no police protection, no hospital, no cell service, no true governmental influence at all.  Yes, the inhumane superstitions I was reading about albinos was horrific to read about, but not at all unbelievable.   If you still doubt, check out this video from the ABC's Nightline:  https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/tanzanian-children-lost-limbs-brutal-attacks-albinism-part-52039746

As I was reading and watching videos about the plight of African albinos, I was led to a site named "Under the Same Sun".  This is, it seems, the only ngo in the world addressing this abomination.  Then I saw the name of UTSS's founder: Peter Ash; a Canadian with albinism.  It had to be the same kid I knew during those summers a lifetime ago.  I e-mailed UTTS, and got a prompt reply that Peter would be happy to reconnect with me via phone.  We set a time to speak, and in a few days we were talking on the phone.  Peter, a retired Baptist pastor and apparently wealthy entrepreneur,  has now committed his life to defending the lives of sub Saharan albinos.  UTSS does everything from getting these children into residential schools where they can be better protected than if they stayed in their rural villages, to forcing the prosecution of witch doctors and their parts pirates, to providing sun glasses and sunscreen for the people with albinism in remote areas.  (Their vulnerablility to skin cancer is a major reason why albinos in Africa have a life expectancy of only 30 years, and a diagnosis of skin cancer is not uncommon among 10 year olds.).  Peter travels to Tanzania three times a year to meet with officials and work with the various projects he has started.  "The Boy from Geita" is a documentary about his work that has been shown at Cannes, among other international venues. Check it out on Amazon Prime.

While my call with Peter was informative, I had more in mind than just catching up with someone from my teen years.  I wanted to know how my class and my local church can get involved.  He gave me ideas on how this could happen.  Unfortunately, days after we spoke the corona virus has shut down the whole world for a while, but this will pass, and the folks in Africa will still be facing the savagery of ignorance and superstition.  Count me in, Peter, to help however the Lord allows.

Meet Peter Ash here:  https://www.underthesamesun.com/

See where this is occurring here:  https://images.app.goo.gl/Yfb1z74YQCYgMqHT9