Story
For the last five years, Standing Voice has done incredible work improving the health, education and prospects of people with albinism in East Africa. Socially ostracised, often denied access to education and healthcare, and, all too frequently, mutilated or killed for their supposedly magical body parts, many people with albinism can face short, brutal lives, confined to the margins of society.
Standing Voice was set up to change this. Its programmes aim to address all the myriad challenges people with albinism face in Tanzania: from building a network of skin cancer prevention clinics across the country and providing educational scholarships, to running community initiatives that nurture inclusion and operating global advocacy campaigns to overcome social stigma. Its work has been inspiring to witness, but there is much more to be done.
This Summer, I will be travelling to Tanzania to offer direct, hands-on support to Standing Voice's community projects and work directly with the people they help. I will use my skills as a carpenter to help renovate the Umoja Training Centre on Ukerewe Island. This community centre was set up by Standing Voice to help people with albinism and their families develop skills, form lasting connections and find solace from the isolation and discrimination many have suffered throughout their lives.
That is why I'll be spending a fair chunk of the morning on Sunday 20 May, attempting to navigate 13.1 miles of Hackney streetscape as quickly as my legs can move. It's a challenging run, sure, but nowhere near as challenging as the lives that Standing Voice changes every day. Please support them if you can - a small gesture in East London can make a big impact in East Africa.
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Standing Voice works to end human rights violations against people with albinism in Tanzania. Albinism is a genetic condition that reduces melanin pigment in the skin, eyes and hair. People with albinism are pale, vulnerable to sunburn, and visually impaired.
In parts of Africa, people with albinism are being marginalised, mutilated and murdered. People with this condition are thought to be curses from God. Women with albinism are raped in the belief that their bodies cure AIDS. Witchcraft potions containing the body parts of people with albinism are meanwhile believed to be a source of wealth and fortune. This belief has caused 204 people with albinism to be murdered, and another 354 to be attacked and mutilated, across Africa since 2006.
Most victims have been children.
Those who escape this violence face enormous challenges in accessing healthcare, education, housing and employment. The majority live short and cruel lives, abused and hunted for the colour of their skin. Standing Voice is working to transform their lives.
The money we're raising will directly support Standing Voice's life-saving work: from eradicating preventable death from skin cancer, to giving a child with albinism a fair chance at an education.