Souls worth living too | Arzoo Rajpar | TEDxYouth@AKAMombasa
[Music] I grew up in Tanzania a beautiful and peaceful country with kind people and happy people too but as I was growing up I was exposed to the circumstances of different individuals including those of persons with albanism I then began questioning whether the people of my country were truly kind and whether my country was truly beautiful or peaceful because how can we be kind when we continue to treat each other with such disrespect and without Integrity how will we ever be able to grow as a country if we continue to deprive each other from opportunities prosperity and happy lives and how can you take away a life with the intention of making yours better I took the initiative to learn about albanism about 3 years ago when I came across an article on the newspap in the newspaper of about a baby boy who was killed for his body parts leaving his mother devastated I wanted to understand why anyone will commit such a crime and what albinism truly is albinism is a skin condition whereby individuals lack melanin or pigmentation causing the skin to be pale their their eyes blue or gray and their hair are Beach blunt this condition makes the skin very prone to severe skin burns hence skin cancer and can also cause vision problems there has been a stigma surrounding person with albanism in Tanzania for hundreds of years this stigma is characterized by the belief that persons with albanism have magical properties that their body parts can grant wealth success Fame that they do not die they're ghosts they simply disappear and that they will only bring chaos to a home these false ideas were first propagated by witch doctors who would request for albino body parts in order to brew a potion that was believed to Grant an individual with whatever they Des they desired persons with albanism are hunted and often killed their body parts are sold for up to $75,000 and taken to Witch Doctors this price stunned me at first but as I began to delve deeper into the issue I realized that the people committing these crimes aren't just anyone they're people with authority people with large sums of money and people who are educated this is the this is proof that even the most successful believe in the stigma undeniably Tanzania is the pole of ALB albanism persecution but the problem exists all over East Africa there have been Alban albanism attacks in Kenya in Bundi and other regions and presents with albinism are subject to great amounts of prejudice and stigmatization in June and July 2015 I went on a beautiful journey of creating a documentary to raise awareness about the issue and to educate the danan community during this process I met a young girl named Joyce when Joyce was only 14 years old she was chased by two men on her way to school who wanted to kill her this happened on two occasions but Joyce was one of the lucky few to escape an albinism attack as she was telling me the story her father had to leave the room because of the memories this event brought to him and her mother had tears in her eyes off camera Joyce looked at me and said for a long time I didn't understand why they hated me so much why they wanted to take my life away or why I couldn't be like the other boys and girls but As I Grew Older I began to understand that I'm different I'm special and that scares them Joyce's family is one of the most caring supportive and loving families I know her younger brother also has albinism but her parents have never been ashamed of them they've they've secured educations for both and done everything to help them live life like I would and like you would I also visited the Salvation Army school where about 100 children with albanism reside there I met a young boy named Sidi s told me that he grew up KN knowing that people wanted to kill him that people wanted his body parts for their own upset and selfish reasons it saddens me to know the children at the school were all so full of life their eyes glisten with hope and happiness and they smil with so much kindness it saddens me to know that their childhood is filled with fear that there are people out there who do not see them as human beings but as objects who do not deserve the gift of Life persons with albanism are constantly under threat especially during their childhood the most sacred time of an individual's life they get face oppression in the workplace they get stares as they walk down the street can you imagine a life like that a life when people do not see you for who you are but as an object that can grant them with whatever they like for a ghost a bad Omen someone who is Unworthy of life I personally refuse to live knowing that my fellow tanzanians live in these circumstances and I refuse to sit back and watch all this happen without saying a word I call out to all of you to help me support peasants with albanism believe in them enable them to live healthy lives to access education to ensure that they live in happiness with their families and without fear we need to educate the East African Community expose the truth and dispel the lies show everyone that albinism is simply a condition with biological defects none that are intellectual and none that make them different from you and me because the only thing you do when you kill a person with albinism is take another innocent and valuable Life Away thank you