Archive for the African Category

Paying Forward

I recently saw a documentary on the plight of Albinos in Tanzania. As you may know my heart is touched whenever I see children suffering. The situation here in Africa effects both adults and children but many of these children never reach adulthood because they are often murdered before they become adults.

Neglected Child in Public School

The Albinos in Tanzania are hunted for their body parts and their blood. There have been many, many slaughterings and dismemberment of Albino children. A news article reported recently on how young albino girls have been raped as a result of a mistaken belief that it can cure aids.

How can we help? There’s a non-profit organization called Under the Same Sun that has been working diligently to help People with Albinism (PWAs). They accept contributions. Also these children are in dire need of having their eyes protected from the sun. So starting December 1, 2011, I will donate a pair of sunglasses for every one of my books that is sold online (either paperback or e-book form) to these children in Tanzania. I have three mystery novels, The Advocate, The Advocate’s Betrayal, and The Advocate’s Conviction. (The main character is an advocate for abused children.) Any of these books will qualify and they are available in paperback on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and about any e-book form you want. If you purchase a book I will use my royalties to send the sunglasses to help protect their sensitive eyes. Together we can pay forward and help these unfortunate children.

https://www.teresaburrell.com

Albinos in Tanzania

Can you imagine living every day in fear? That’s the way the albinos in Tanzania have to live because their bodies are sought after for use in witchcraft. More than 60 albinos have been murdered in the last 4 years. They have been chopped up and their body parts have been sold to witch doctors who concoct charms. Others have survived but have been dismembered. Only a few of the cases have resulted in convictions. The news recently indicated that eight suspects were sentenced to death for some of these attacks. Many of these crimes have gone unsolved. And although the arrests that have been made have resulted in some lessening of attacks as recent as last month two teenagers were accosted and their body parts hacked off.

Fifteen year old Kulwa’s arm was hacked off with a machete on 10/21/20ll at her home in Mbizi Village.

Albinism is a genetically inherited condition. They lack pigmentation in their skin and their eyes. They are extremely vulnerable to the sun. People with this condition are generally visually impaired and most are legally blind. In North America and Europe the estimates are that about one in every 20,000 people have some form of Albinism, but in Africa and particularly Tanzania the numbers are about one in every 2,000. Approximately 150,000 albinos live in Tanzania and they all fear for their lives. The children have to attend special schools and are often given away as babies because their parents cannot protect them from this horrible evil that often results in dismemberment or death.

A man named Peter Ash, from Langley, BC, formed a non-profit organization called Under the Same Sun to promote the well being of these poor people. He has done many wonderful things to help them such as forming schools for the children, providing a clinic to help with vision problems, developing public awareness, and advocating for people with albinism.

I can’t imagine the torture these poor people have to endure. It’s bad enough that the sun is their enemy, but to be hunted like animals by other human beings is incomprehensible.

https://www.teresaburrell.com

The “L” Word–Limbo

Limbo—I’m talking about the dance, not the place somewhere between heaven and hell.

Do you remember the limbo? Are you too young? I remember being the limbo champ once in school. In all fairness, I think I had an advantage. Since I was only about four and a half feet tall, I was much closer to the ground than my fully grown friends.

For those of you who are not familiar with the dance, the dancer leans backward and moves to a Caribbean rhythm as he dances his way under a horizontal stick without touching it. If he touches it or falls backwards, he’s out. During a competition the dancers follow in a single line with the stick being gradually lowered each time through until only one dancer remains.

People often associate the dance with Hawaii, but it originated on the island of Trinidad. The name comes from the Trinidad/English dialect, “limba” meaning “to bend,” from the English “limber.”

Research indicates that in certain African beliefs the dance reflects the whole cycle of life. The dancers are moving under a pole and emerging on the other side representing the triumph of life over death.

And I bet you thought the limbo was just another dance. But then you probably received most of your limbo knowledge, like I did, from Chubby Checker and his “Limbo Rock.”

Do you have a limbo story? Please share.

Teresa

https://www.teresaburrell.com/