Hope and a New Beginning for Manyash

As Spring approaches our thoughts often turn to hope and new life. Many of the children in our Education Program have been rescued from a life of fear and suffering. With your help they get a new beginning. Manyashi is one of these children. I met Manyashi on my first trip to Tanzania. I was visiting a government school for the blind, because I had heard that many children with albinism were living there. Fifty to one hundred such children had been rounded up "for their protection" by the government after a rash of attacks on people with albinism. Taken from their families, homes and communities, they now lived in a school that was overcrowded and run down. There were few teachers, books or materials so the students were not really learning anything.  Then I noticed a little boy, Manyashi, pushing his way through the crowd of children and running to me.   He looked so scared. Perhaps it was my white hair and fair skin, very similar to his own, that drew him. As I picked him up in my arms he just clung to me. He did not want to let go. Later that day, visiting a rural village, I met his mother who recounted the story of her 5-year old daughter Mariam who had been murdered in her home a few weeks before. She took me into the mud hut and showed me the lingering blood stains.Manyashi was only 8 years old, when he cowered under the bed and witnessed his younger sister Mariam's brutal murder. No wonder he had looked so scared when he ran to me earlier that morning. Mariam had been killed JUST BECAUSE SHE HAD ALBINISM. The attackers who fled with her limbs likely sold them to witchdoctors for potions and charms believed to bring wealth and good luck. As a person with albinism, I took it very personally. Mariam's story had to be told. The world needed to know, so that this would not keep happening. That day, we told Mariam's story for the first time, to a local TV reporter. That's how the advocacy work of Under The Same Sun began. I knew that my encounter with Manyashi was no random coincidence. It was a collision of our two worlds that would leave us both changed forever. I knew that he needed a new beginning. When I asked him what he most wanted, it was to feel safe and to have an education. With proper schooling he would be able to support himself. It would help him to grow in confidence and demonstrate to those around him, that he is just like them except for the color of his skin. That's when Under The Same Sun's Education Program was born. When I visit Tanzania, I catch up with Manyashi every chance I get. Now abandoned by his mother, Manyashi has been adopted into a loving foster family where he is putting back together the pieces of his life. Through the UTSS Education Program, he is thriving in a high-quality, safe and inclusive school along with his other siblings. He is now a self-confident Grade 9 student, who has learned English and is getting straight A's.  And Manyashi has big plans for the future. His dream, he says, is to be the future President of Tanzania...or a Pastor. With your gifts, you enable stories of change to take place for children like Manyashi every day!       Every dollar counts. $12 can buy textbooks $60 provides a kit of low-vision aids $100 equips a student with school supplies for the year $160 covers medical expenses Please make a life-changing gift today. Spring is a great time to help a child make a new beginning. Thank you for your support for children like Manyashi, who, as they take their rightful places in society, will bring hope to all people with albinism in Tanzania. Peter Ash Founder and CEO Under The Same Sun  www.underthesamesun.com P.S. You can make an ongoing INVESTMENT IN HOPE with a monthly commitment. $25/month covers school materials and uniforms. $50/month helps supply health and personal needs. For the stretch gift of $135/month you can provide EVERYTHING to educate and change the life of one student. STAY CONNECTED: Under The Same Sun is a Registered Charity. All donations are deductible for income tax purposes in Canada and the USA. 100% of your donations go directly to programs in Tanzania. All administration costs are covered by a generous benefactor.  Canadian Charitable #: 851599860 RR0001 US: EIN 68-0680719