Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tributes
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Foundation Fighting Blindness on Face Book
| http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=123723695015&f=1&e=0#/FoundationFightingBlindness
Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/ |
Friday, June 26, 2009
Changing the world
BTW, I just joined Facebook a couple of weeks ago the suggestion of my brother who lives in another state and my sister. If you're ever on there, look me up!
Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/
--- On Fri, 6/26/09, GerryKate wrote:
From: GerryKate
Subject: Fw: Changing the world
To: Undisclosed-Recipient@yahoo.com
Date: Friday, June 26, 2009, 11:20 AM
Hi Kathy
thought you might like this one
G
CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE
If a child lives with criticism he/she learns to condemn
If a child lives with hostility he/she learns to fight
If a child lives with ridicule he/she learns to be shy
If a child lives with shame he/she learns to feel guilty
If a child lives with tolerance he/she learns to be patient
If a child lives with encouragement he/she learns confidence
If a child lives with praise he /she learns to appreciate
If a child lives with fairness he/she learns justice
If a child lives with security he/she learns to have faith
If a child lives with approval he/she learns to like themselves
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship he/she learns to find love in the world
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
It's My Hair Story and I'm Sticking to It!
Years ago in several dreams I saw myself in locks . When I started wearing my hair natural, without hot comb or chemical straightening, it felt so right for me--just as I felt it was and just as it was in my dreams. Key phrase: "It felt so right for me." For the last fifteen years or so, I have been so happy with my choice. My hair is now a little past my waist in length and my husband is quick to quote that I am "Nappy and happy."
It becomes a ministry in its own, my hair does. I've explained where locks are mentioned in the Bible when I've had my hair discussion at the beginning of the Girl Scout year with my Brownie Scouts. Yes, I have to have that discussion to get all the little girl hair questions out of the way so we can be about Girl Scout business the rest of the year. "Is that your real hair?" "Why do you wear it like that?" "Will you ever cut it?" "Can you take it loose?"
Mind you, it is an important discussion to have with little girls of African descent with African features. The media still tells them that those Africanesque features are not considered attractive. Before you disagree, take a look at the hair care products that are advertised on TV and in magazines. The "better" looking hair is considered soft, silky, "manageable" and straight. Even for hair coloring products, the African American models most often have chemically altered hair. That and the constant fight to pull, perm and tame the tot's tresses gives her the implicit message that she needs to be made over--that God made some serious mistake that has to be corrected-- before she faces the public. That is the concept I fight and one I take seriously as that implicit negative message has an impact beyond hair texture for children.
My job and my hair's job is to reinforce Psalm 139:14:
"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
This my way to get the children to understand that means God doesn't make garbage and that includes each of them from head to toe.
A person's choice to wear artificially straightened hair--with all the consequences that entails-- is their own choice. Inevitably, I am asked about my hair by different people. Usually Black women who may be described by one of my friends as either Tres ghetto or gauche country or somewhat unenlightened will ask me if it's all mine and how I get my hair like this--as if they really don't know. These are usually women with very hard straightened hair that is partly shellacked with gel to the scalp, bleached copper red on the ends with hard hair ribbons cascading from somewhere on top or from the side of their heads. Yes, Virginia, some people really do wear salad bowls and waterfalls on their heads.Sometimes they have cute short haircuts that are super straight with little rows of not-quite-curled-but-rather bent curls on top.
These ladies will ask, not for an answer from me but to make a statement, which is usually an explanation as to why they would never wear their hair locked. Most often the answer to the unasked question is, "I couldn't wear my hair like that because I like to wear different styles/change my hair style a lot." One lady told me she likes to scratch her scalp and she believes locked hair would prevent that, so she will continue to smear skin-irritating chemical straighteners, which make her scalp itch, onto her head every three weeks just for the pleasure of being able to scratch the chemical induced itch. Stop. Blink twice. Now read on.
It amuses me when a lady with all of her hair cut near the scalp except for the little bent hairs on top, as mentioned above, tells me she likes to change hair styles when she hardly has any hair.
The other type is the "I'm-too-important-to-reveal-my-natural-hair-texture" woman who knows we all know but acts like we all don't know what we know we know. That type, if she ever does speak to the likes of me, will usually tell someone else in my presence how unprofessional natural hair is as she should know because she would not be in her position if she were not privy to all things professional. Her concept of professionalism usually includes not allowing a certain "ethnic look" to offend those of Euro-ethnicity.
To those women, here's the deal: You must get a life. I am ethnic. You are ethnic--in whatever way you define it. To say that one ethnic look is more professional that another is, to quote Mike Tyson impersonators: "Ludicrous! Simply ludicrous!" My ethnicity doesn't prevent me from enjoying my students and being professional at what I do with them.
Here's what my husband, who is of another ethnicity said he thought when he first saw me: "That hair caught my eye. I said, 'Here is someone who is real from head to toe. She is who she is and not a thing is fake including the texture of her hair.' I thought it was beautiful then and it's beautiful now." So say all my friends of all ethnicities.
To all those ladies: When you ask me about my hair, I tell you just to answer your question. That is all. I am not trying to proselytize you into a religion of natural hair. You do to have to explain to me why you prefer to wear your hair the way you do. You may not believe this but--read my lips--I really do not care. Really! I did not ask about your hair; you asked about mine. Be happy with your choice. I am with mine and I have no regrets and make no excuses for my decision.
Another questioner type are, of course children. Little Black girls are told their hair stops growing and cannot possibly get to be as long as naturally straight hair. Hello, moms! Tell your little girls that the pulling and yanking on hair with implements made for straight hair breaks it off--especially when that hair has been damaged by the chemical straighteners, then plied with greasy hair gook that is supposed to counteract the drying effect of the chemicals.
These children ask me, "Is that your real hair?" They are usually excited and want to play with my hair. Um, no honey. I love children but do you usually allow people you don't know to come up to you and touch your hair? Well, you shouldn't, and neither do I.
Teens and young adults who are starting their locks will ask some upkeep questions. I have to remind them that my hair is not part of a faddish fashion statement for keeping up with my peers. From them I usually get a smile and a "Wow!" or a "Ma'am, I like your dreads! How long you had 'em?" I have to remind them that there is nothing dreadful about locked hair. I prefer not to use the term for cultivated locked hair. In the West Indies, transplanted Africans allowed their hair to lock. Notice I said allowed. Those that escaped slavery to live in the wilderness would sometimes swoop down and attack English colonist who dreaded seeing them coming with their dreaded locks because it meant bad news! Since our hair is usually started or styled to induce locking they are cultivated. That is the difference and why I prefer the terms "Nubian locks" or just "locks." Mine represent my way of life and not a way to stay fashionably in step with peers.
Older White people ask me about my hair also. I'd rather a person ask and know rather than assume and walk around ignorant. So I don't mind answering questions. Sometimes older people ask me about their kids' hair. I tell them that for me the naturally tight curl pattern makes it a natural way to keep my hair. For kids with straight hair there is a different method for achieving locked hair that most parents cannot deal with because it involves lots of beeswax and not washing it for weeks. Ew.
The one question I do not care for is, "Has anyone ever told you that you look like Whoopi Goldberg?" The answer is yes. Someone has said I look like Whoopi Goldberg. Usually it is some well-meaning person of largely European descent who has had limited up-close exposure to Black people of African descent and thus have the perception that all of us with that heretical background not only know each other by name but that we resemble each other most remarkably! My husband who is an American of Italian and Irish background gets far more insulted by that comparison that I and says:."You look nothing like her and she looks nothing like you. How can he say that? Is he blind?"
My retort to the comparison to Whoopi---for which I am far more accustomed than my dear Hunnee-- is that I can understand that mistake seeing that we are close in age, both female, African Americans with locked hair. The big hairy BUT is, that while I deeply admire the Whoopster--which is what I call her on a more personal level, for as you know, we all know each other--- she is the more humorous of the two of us while I am the cuter.
I appreciate the beauty in all these things that God has created in each of us. I can appreciate these differences in my friends. Appreciation means not placing one above or below the other but knowing that the differences in themselves is a beautiful thing. My daughter's hair is nearly black and curly. My Hunnee's hair is wavy and blond. My hair is kinky and brown. It's all good 'cause it's all from God. How boring it would be to be all the same!
This is my hair story and I'm sticking to it!
"Gimme a head with hair Long beautiful hair...
I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy
Snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty
Oily, greasy, fleecy, shining
Gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen
Knotted, polka-dotted; Twisted, beaded, braided
Powdered, flowered, and confettied
Bangled, tangled, spangled and spaghettied"
~~From Hair the musical
It's...So...Hot!!!
- I saw a chicken lay a fried egg!
- energy experts believe sweat is the new oil.
- It’s like living in the french fry bin at McDonalds.
- your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, "What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death?"
- Michael Vick is organizing penguin fights.
- it's noon in July, kids are on summer vacation, and not one person is out on the streets.
- you actually burn your hand opening the car door.
- you break a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:30 a.m. before work.
- no one would dream of putting vinyl upholstery in a car or not having air conditioning.
- the birds have to use potholders to pull the worms out of the ground.
- The weather is 95 and hazy ..kind of like John McCain.
- It's so hot that I saw two trees fighting over a dog.
- It was so hot today I saw a funeral procession pull into a Dairy Queen.
- It was so hot today I saw an Amish guy buying an air conditioner.
- Potatoes cook underground, so just pull one out and add butter, salt and pepper.
- You realize that asphalt has a liquid state.
- Angelina Jolie is adopting kids from Antartica"
- you notice the best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
- hot water now comes out of both taps.
- you can attend any function wearing shorts and a tank top.
- The 4 seasons are: tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!
- you discover that in July, it takes only 2 fingers to drive your car.
- you can attend any function wearing shorts and a tank top.
- you've experienced condensation on your butt from the hot water in the toilet bowl.
- you would give anything to be able to splash cold water on your face.
- Your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, "What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death?"
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
I am so feeling what a candle must feel like.Yesterday it was 96 degrees outside with a heat index of 106 degrees. The kids at school are nuts from the heat.
I was going to work my little garden after the sun went down but it was still so steamy and I was sooooooo drained.
Daily Encounter ... Strength out of Weakness [Tuesday, June 23, 2009]
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
1. Strength out of Weakness
"Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it [my problem] away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."1
In his book, Confidence, Alan Loy McGinnis talks about a famous study entitled "Cradles of Eminence" by Victor and Mildred Goertzel, in which the family backgrounds of 300 highly successful people were studied. Many of the names of those in the study were well known to most of us—including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Winston Churchill, Albert Schweitzer, Gandhi, Einstein, and Freud, all of whom were brilliant in their fields of expertise.
The results of this study are both surprising and encouraging for many of us who came from a less-than-desirable home life. For example: "Three-quarters of the children were troubled either by poverty, by a broken home, or by rejecting, over- possessive or dominating parents.
"Seventy-four of 85 writers of fiction or drama and 16 of the 20 poets came from homes where, as children, they saw tense psychological drama played out by their parents.
"Physical handicaps such as blindness, deafness, or crippled limbs characterized over one-quarter of the sample."
These people who had confidence in their abilities and put them to creative use all have had more weaknesses and handicaps than many who have a lack of confidence because of low self-esteem. So, what made the difference? Probably by compensating for their weaknesses they excelled in other areas.
One man reported, "What has influenced my life more than any other single thing has been my stammer. Had I not stammered I would probably have gone to Cambridge as my brothers did, perhaps have become a don and every now and then published a dreary book about French literature." The speaker who stammered until his death was W. Somerset Maugham, as he looked back on his life at age 86.
"By then he had become a world-renowned author of more than 20 books, 30 plays, and scores of essays and short stories."
Speaking personally, I too came from a psychologically distraught, dysfunctional family. What made the difference for me was a deep sense of God's call and my faith in and commitment to Jesus Christ (with a lot of hard work and growth). However, I tremble to think where I would have ended up had it not been for my Christian faith and practice.
It's not what we have or don't have that matters in life but what we do with what we have—and what we do about facing and resolving our issues. It is very important that we don't allow our past to determine our future and that we use what we have to the best of our ability.
As another has wisely said, "I may have been a victim in the past but if I remain a victim, I am now a willing volunteer." And another, "Hope for the future gives us power in the present!" No matter what our background, when we commit and trust our lives daily to God, we can and do have hope for the future. It's up to us what we do in the present to resolve our past and to become what God wants us to be in the future.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, help me to see all that you envision for me to become and do and that, with your help, I can become and do. Help me to realize that I don't have to allow my past to determine my future, and help me to face and resolve every issue in my past that might be holding me back in any way. And above all, I thank you that when I daily commit and trust my life to you, you can help me to turn my weaknesses into strengths. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
1. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 (NIV).
<:))))><
Children's Science Exam
Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/ If you need a good laugh, try reading through these children's science exam answers...Q: Name the four seasons. Q: What are steroids? contains the brain; the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels A, E, I, OF, and UP. Q: What is the fibula?
| ||
|
Monday, June 22, 2009
* I love *
*. Ya .*
"*,,*"
Pass this HEART to all ur friends. If 3 come back ur n 4 good news
--
==================================================================
This mobile text message is brought to you by AT&T
Somebody sent this to my cell phone. I justa wanted to see if it would show up if I sentrit here
Saturday, June 20, 2009
I Love this story
| "Oldie" but "goodie"
Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/
|
Friday, June 19, 2009
TGIF!
My sister and brother invited me to join Facebook so I was on it last night for about an hour or so before I went to sleep with my baby laptop on. I woke up to it shining in my face and some weird movie was on my TV on a channel that I didn't put it on. My daughter thinks it's funny to change the TV station if I should fall asleep on the sofa. She says she wants me sleeping to quality TV and not trash.
Anyway, this morning i was determined to get out into the garden before the sun started blazing. We have had 96 degree days here lately and it truly zaps the energy. besides that, after having chemo, I'm not s'posed to deal with the sun so much. I can understand why. It truly zaps the energy more so. So I put another zucchini plant and a cucumber plant in the ground. I'm turning up a small area next to the patio so I won't go too far and have such a large area to work with. Something easy to take care of this summer . I put one of the miniature rose bushes in the ground next to the utility room door.
When the sweat started pouring like a fountain that was my signal to move inside. I'm cooling off on baby laptop by posting here and checking a few emails before I get in the shower.
My French e-pal has not IM-ed me this morning. I really, REALLY need to have my car serviced and cleaned out--not necessarily in that order. If this sounds scattered--such are the thoughts in the land of ADD!!{:^D}
Ahh! The roofer guys are finally here to replace those missing shingles blown off during Hurricane Gustav. Yay! Gotta go!
Code Amber Alert!
I hope that everyone reading this will post both the US and Canadian Amber alert ticker on their blogs and web sites.
Make this Father's Day special for our troops in harm's way
Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/ --- On Thu, 6/18/09, USO <newsletter@uso.org> wrote:
|
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
CEC SmartBrief article from: mskathy
| Ms. Kathy thought you might be interested in checking out an excerpt from CEC SmartBrief. |
This includes blind children with learning differences accompanying their blindness. I've seen "systems" ignore these differences in this same manner and the children are blamed year after year. Sometimes it's the same kids and sometimes it's different kids. This fall was an excellent example. Shame. |
 |  |
 | Designed specifically for special education professionals, CEC SmartBrief is a FREE daily e-mail newsletter. It provides the latest education news and information you need to stay on top of issues that are important to you. SIGN UP TODAY to receive CEC SmartBrief. |
 | Children with learning disabilities are often not given adequate help Children with learning disabilities may be unfairly labeled as lazy, writes Susan N. Schriber Orloff, an occupational therapist who works with such students. Students with such disabilities often fall through the cracks, going unnoticed until it's often too late to get them back on track, she writes. Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (6/15) |
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Text Message 6/15/09
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Name Card for Practice in Writing
This is the name card I wrote about earlier. I prefer to use Print Shop Deluxe but my desk top computer, which is where PSD is installed, is working like molasses in winter. Thus I had to use my baby laptop and MS Word with Word Art. Blah. I prefer my old school PDS but one cannot be choosy in a pinch--and I was in a pinch this time!
Before you start, get some card stock instead of regular printing paper. I have a tabletop laminating machine which I use with the 8.5 inch by 11 inch laminating film. The film is thicker than the film on the large laminating machine used in most schools. This with the card stock will make a far sturdier card.
You may need a black marker if you're using MS Word or MS Works which is why I prefer PSD. But you probably can't find PSD anymore. So I will continue as if you're working in what most people already have on their computers.
Depending on the level of the student, I will use just the first name or first and last name. After opening a blank document, on the tool bar go to "FILE." In "page set up" choose "landscape.
Now go to "INSERT" on your tool bar. Choose "PICTURE" and slide over to "Word Art." In Word Art" find the hollow, colorless letters (which may be style 7 in Windows XP you will see if you roll the cursor over it). Click on this style and a dialogue box will pop up.
At the top left of this box in the gray area you will see the word "Font." Choose "Comic Sans." This is important. This font looks more like a beginner hand writer's font. Consistency in font is very important for beginning readers and writers. Also use a capital letter for the first letter of the first and last names only. Reading matter for beginners should keep this form as word shape also aids in reading. If you use all caps all words have the same rectangular shape. Besides it is better for the children to get used to writing their name using initial caps with lowercase which is more natural.
Once you type the name(s) in the dialogue box, click "OK" in the dialogue box. The hollow letters should appear on your document. You can drag the corners to stretch
it or shrink it. I like to place a few lines underneath for practice in writing on lines. I didn't do that on this one because I wasn't sure the students would be that advanced yet
I had to look on line for the hollow shapes to place beneath the lines. In PSD they were in the graphics collection.
Before laminating, I had to go over the lines in the name with a black felt tip pen.
On the photo you can see where the student used a red dry erase marker to trace his name inside the hollow letters and to trace the shapes. At the end of practice each child wipes the marker off with a paper towel so the card is ready for the next day's practice. Make sure ONLY dry erase markers are available for the students to write with on these cards.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Speeding
Patrol Officers were conducting speeding enforcement on I-15, just north of the Marine Corps Air Station at Miramar . One of the officers was using a hand held radar device to check speeding vehicles approaching the crest of a hill. The officers were suddenly surprised when the radar gun began reading 300 miles per hour.. The officer attempted to reset the radar gun, but it would not reset and then turned off. Just then a deafening roar over the treetops revealed that the radar had in fact locked on to a USMC F/A-18 Hornet which was engaged in a low flying exercise near the location. Back at the CHP Headquarters the Patrol Captain fired off a complaint to the USMC Base Commander. The reply came back in true USMC style: Thank you for your letter. We can now complete the file on this incident. You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Hornet had detected the presence of, and subsequently locked on to your hostile radar equipment and automatically sent a jamming signal back to it, which is why it shut down. Furthermore, an Air-to-Ground missile aboard the fully armed aircraft had also automatically locked on to your equipment location. Fortunately, the Marine Pilot flying the Hornet recognized the situation for what it was, quickly responded to the missile system alert status and was able to override the automated defense system before the missile was launched to destroy the hostile radar position. The pilot also suggests you cover your mouths when cussing at them, since the video systems on these jets are very high tech. Sergeant Johnson, the officer holding the radar gun, should get his dentist to check his left rear molar. It appears the filling is loose. Also, the snap is broken on his holster. Thank you for your concern.
How's this One For A Speeding Ticket
Two California Highway
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
World Superhero Registry
ICE (In Case of Emergency)
Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/
--- On Mon, 6/8/09, Adrianne wrote:
From: Adrianne
Subject: World Superhero Registry
To:
Date: Monday, June 8, 2009, 10:07 PM
http://www.worldsuperheroregistry.com/world_superhero_registry_gallery.htm
Monday, June 8, 2009
Defending albinos' rights to life
Sender: Ms. Kathy
Comment from Ms. Kathy:
Source: IFRC
Date: 08 Jun 2009
By Andrei Engstrand-Neacsu in Nairobi
Superstition has led to the killing of
more than 60 albinos in Burundi and
Tanzania. The Red Cross Red Crescent is
backing government efforts to protect
them, and defends their right to a life in
dignity.
As the trial of 11 Burundians accused of
involvement in the killing of albinos and
the selling of their body parts continues
in Ruyigi, the Red Cross Red Crescent has
made the protection of the most vulnerable
and promotion of respect for humanitarian
values like non-discrimination and respect
for diversity its highest priority.
More than 60 lives were lost in a recent
spate of albino killings in Eastern
Africa.
"The killings of albinos must stop and
their dignity restored," says Anseleme
Katyunguruza, Secretary General of the
Burundi Red Cross, which is providing
humanitarian aid to 48 albino children and
adults sheltered by authorities in the
township of Ruyigi.
At least 12 albinos have been murdered in
Burundi and 50 in Tanzania during the past
few months. Although some 200 people were
arrested last year on suspicion of murder
in Tanzania, none have been convicted. In
Burundi last November, however, two men
were jailed for life for killing albinos.
Greed, superstition and murder
Katyunguruza talks about a "phenomenon of
albino hunting" that started in August
last year. The demand came from
neighbouring Tanzania and is closely
linked to the economic boom in the fishing
and gold mining industries along the
shores of the Lake Victoria.
This has turned into a deadly business,
with killers reportedly being paid between
200 and 5,000 US dollars for their
crime."In search for profit, witch doctors
revived an old superstition that the limbs
and genitals of an albino can bring
quicker and better results to one's
enterprise. We are condemning and fighting
this horrible form of discrimination," he
adds.
Red Cross volunteers have been helping the
bereaved families with the burials of the
mutilated bodies of family members. Things
are so serious that volunteers often have
to pour concrete over the tombs to prevent
albino corpses from being exhumed at night
by people in search of the 'magical
organs'.
Family betrayal
Many volunteers have taken the risk of
sheltering in their own houses people with
albinism, some of whom have even been
threatened by members of their own
families. Red Cross volunteers are driven
by a firm commitment to respect human
dignity and protect people from suffering
and violence. The Red Cross strongly
believes that all humans are equal and are
not to be discriminated on the basis of
criteria such as race, gender or living
with albinism.
"We are two albinos in our family - my
younger brother and I. One day our older
brother came back from Tanzania with
strangers. At nightfall, they hovered
around our house as they watched us. Then
they caught my brother and killed him,"
one albino child, on the verge of tears,
told a Burundi Red Cross volunteer.
His dead brother's body parts were then
sold off for 300,000 Burundian francs
(about 250 US dollars). "We alerted the
police, even though we were threatened.
The authorities arrested [our older
brother] but, for some reason, he was
released shortly after. Now he is in
hiding in Tanzania," he added.
The areas worst affected are the communes
of Bweru, Nyabitsinda, Kinyinya, Gisuru,
Butaganzwa around the town of Ruyigi, not
far from the Tanzanian border. The
killings occur regularly in Tanzania as
well. The body parts are at high demand
among miners and fisherman around the Lake
Victoria regions of Mwanza, Shinyanga,
Kigoma and Mara.
Red Cross protection and assistance
Authorities in both countries have offered
protection to dozens of albinos in
shelters safeguarded constantly by the
police. In Ruyigi, there is tight security
at the shelters where the Red Cross is
distributing food, digging latrines and
providing other essential services.
"We have collected money and take turns to
visit our (albino) fellow Burundians. We
bring beer and share it with them since
this is sign of acceptance and
solidarity," says one volunteer, adding
that the Red Cross also encourages
communities to help vulnerable albinos
returning home by reconstructing houses
and labouring their fields.
Activities encouraging respect for
humanitarian principles and values have
intensified in communities across the
affected areas. Further assistance
includes advocacy with local authorities
in order to sensitize them to the plight
of the albino. Schools have also been
approached to ensure that albino children
can continue their studies in the town of
Ruyigi and the town's hospital has been
asked to allow free of charge medical care
for albino people in need.
Across the border, the Kabanga public
school for the disabled, near the town of
Kigoma, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika,
provides refuge for some 50 Tanzanian
albino children youngsters and single
mothers.
Many have just escaped their villages with
their lives and tell harrowing stories of
killing and mutilation.
One small boy talks about his non-albino
mother's hand was severed by albino
hunters armed with machetes after she
tried to prevent them seizing him.
The school has now completely run out of
space, but vulnerable albinos are still
being brought in by the police from as far
as 200 kilometres away.
The Tanzanian Red Cross has been able to
provide sunblock cream as well as
blankets, mosquito nets, soap and
mattresses left over from its programme to
assist Burundian and Congolese refugees in
camps nearby, including personal
contributions from volunteers.
Changing minds, saving lives
While eagerly waiting to hear about the
outcome of the Ruyigi trial, some
displaced people with albinism are already
thinking of returning to their villages.
When the time is right, Red Cross
volunteers will accompany them every step
of the way and ensure that additional
discussions aimed at stemming
discrimination are being organized.
A series of training sessions focusing on
the reintegration of albinos into their
communities has already taken place and
volunteers have tested not only the
acceptance but also the readiness of
communities to protect those who decide to
return.
"The results were satisfactory but
communities remain divided over the
issue," says Evariste Nhimirimana of the
Burundi Red Cross. "We need to continue
our work … we cannot expect that
superstitions will be easily eradicated."
The Red Cross plans to use cultural
gatherings to explain to the most
suspicious that there is nothing
supernatural about albinism; that in fact
it is a health condition that cannot
entirely be treated. Focusing on dropping
bias, critical thinking and non-violent
communication will be key to influence
behavioural change in the community.
Nshimirimana's concerns are echoed by his
Tanzanian colleague Julius Kejo, who says:
"We need to change minds in order to save
lives."
Case study: Claiming back dignity
In Tanzania's Pwani village, one man with
albinism is making history. Driven by a
passion to help disabled people in his
society, Hamis Ngomella took on special
education training in a college and
graduated as a teacher of children with
special needs. He is among the few in his
village to make it to college.
Hamis is the chairman of the albino
association and represents the Red Cross
in a regional disaster management
committee.
The 40-year-old is one of the 170,000
people living with albinism in Tanzania.
But Hamis refuses to live in fear. The
second born in a family of three, he is
the only albino, and feels lucky to be
accepted and loved by his parents and
siblings.
"When I was born, my mother tells me that
the traditional midwife made a grimace
when she saw me. No one welcomed the
arrival of a strange baby. But my mother
protected and kept me," he says.
Hamis faced constant discrimination
throughout his childhood: society didn't
accept him and schoolmates called him
names like "Mzungu" which means "white
man" in Swahili. Some people even
suspected his mother of having slept with
white people, as if this was a shame.
"Disability is simply our own invention -
the hardship, things difficult to
understand. Is a socio-political issue
rather than a matter of health," Hamis
told his colleague Stella Marialle.
"We need to claim back our dignity," he
says.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the
documents carried by the ReliefWeb site
are those of the authors and are not
necessarily shared by UN OCHA or the
ReliefWeb secretariat. Inclusion of links
to sites outside the United Nations does
not imply endorsement of the contents of
those sites. Any user comments added to
forwarded Email messages are those of the
comment authors.