Recently, Peter Ash, founder of “Under the Same Sun” visited one of our TAG (Tanzania Assemblies of God) churches near our home. “Under the Same Sun” is an organization that works on behalf of people with Albinism (PWA) living in Tanzania.
PWA in Tanzania are hunted and killed for their body parts which are used in potions to bring success and wealth. There are over 200,000 PWA in Tanzania; they are shunned by their society and often by their families and live in constant fear for their lives.
Peter Ash spoke about the importance of churches becoming involved in the plight of the PWA in Tanzania; providing them with the love and care that they need and being “safe places” for them to go to for fellowship and spiritual guidance. To date, churches have ignored the plight of the PWA in their country and their communities.
Our prayer is that all of our TAG churches will accept the challenges of ministering to people with Albinism. We hope they will reach out with the love that God has for all people and become sanctuaries of peace and security.
Just this past week, a woman with Albinism in the Simiyu region outside of Mwanza was hacked to death with machetes. The attackers cut off her leg and some of her fingers and she did not survive the attack; her two children are now without a mother.
She was the 67th PWA to die since 2000 due to injuries from attackers. Many more people with Albinism live today without fingers, toes, arms or legs from attacks that did not result in their deaths.
It is time for these horrendous crimes to be stopped and those who are guilty to be punished to the full extent of the law. It is time for the Christians of Tanzania to open their eyes to the plight of these people and become involved in helping them.

We want to thank singer/songwriter Jason Poe for designating all the proceeds from his latest release “Flesh + Blood” to go towards purchasing Braille typewriters for the PWA (People with Albinism) living in Tanzania.  With his recent donation of $5000 we were able to purchase 10 refurbished Braillers plus a large supply of cleaning and refurbishing kits to keep these Braillers working well.  We will also be able to repair and clean the broken Braillers that the Buhangija School have not been able to use for some time.  Click here to download Jason’s album. Remember that all proceeds from the sell of this album goes to the PWA ministry of Tanzania.

We were also given 6 used Braillers from the Ministry to the Blind which operates under the Home Missions Dept of the Assemblies of God.  In addition, were have also been given 3 Swahili Braille Bibles to place in schools which have students who have been trained in the use of Braille. Each of these Swahili Braille Bibles takes up six feet of space on a shelf.

Our daughter, Jennifer, has completed a new PWA video for us that features the song “Grace” from Jason Poe’s album “Flesh + Blood”.  We are excited about this moving video that explains the plight of the PWA in Tanzania. Click here to watch it.

We are excited about these new developments in our ongoing journey to minister to the PWA of Tanzania.

This is a Braille typewriter used by the blind.

Our daughter, Jenn, has finished our new PWA (People with Albinism) video featuring a song from the new album, “Flesh + Blood” by singer/songwriter Jason Poe.  Jason is donating all the proceeds from his album to purchase Braille Typewriters for the Albino children whose vision is impaired to the point that they are legally blind and need to use Braille to read and write.  The new video features the song, “Grace”; written and performed by Jason.

We pray that this video will be both educational and motivational in bringing awareness to the plight of the Albino people of Tanzania.  If you want to make donations to assist in reaching the Albino population of Tanzania with the love of Jesus, click here for more information.

You can download the album at http://jasonpoemusic.com/.

Please feel free to share the video below.

Tanzanians with Albinism from Tim Jarvis on Vimeo.