Halo gentle viewers, and welcome to Good People, Good Works. This week we feature Under The Same Sun, a Canadian non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the lives of Persons With Albinism (PWA). Albinism is a rare genetically inherited condition in which a child is born with no pigmentation in the skin, hair, or eyes.

Founded in ２００８ by Peter Ash, Under The Same Sun works to ensure that PWA's have the information needed to effectively manage their condition, educational opportunities, and access to healthcare so that they may live full and happy lives.

The group currently concentrates on aiding those with albinism in Tanzania, an East African nation. Peter Ash(m): The organization is focused on helping persons with albinism or as what might be more commonly understood by your viewers, albinos. It's a recessive inherited gene, so both parents carry the gene, and the child is born with it. And it causes a lack of melanin production.

A lack of melanin production causes a lack of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes. And so that lack of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes results in the condition that you see that I have today and which also leads to a visual impairment.

Peter Ash(m): Depending on the type of albinism, there's a range of visual impairment. A person with perfect vision has ２０／２０ (vision). So the visual impairment can sort of typically range anywhere from ２０／８０, all the way up to ２０／４００ (vision). ２０／２００ (vision) is legally blind, which is what I am.

So the visual impairment becomes a challenge for education in terms of seeing the blackboard at school, reading and writing. With proper low vision devices, glasses and aids, that can often be assisted and compensated for.

So the low vision is the biggest challenge. Persons with albinism have to be very careful to cover their skin with long sleeved shirts, longer pants, and with hats. Ideally they have wide rims to protect the face, the ears and the neck. And parts of the skin that are exposed to excessive sun, need to be wearing that very strong SPF (sun protection factor) sun block to take care of the skin.

HOST: Peter Ash and his older brother were both born with albinism. Fortunately, as the two boys were growing up, their parents took great care to see that the special needs of their sons were met.

Peter Ash(m): My parents were very supportive. They defended us. They made sure that that we had the best medical treatment possible in terms of ophthalmologists and in terms of genetic counseling. And when we went into the school, my mom would always go and talk to the teachers and make sure that we were getting the attention deserved.

So in my particular case, I had a huge (amount of) support at home, a huge belief in me by my parents and particularly my mother played a huge role there.

HOST: Mr. Ash's mother helped him to understand that his appearance is a gift from God.

Peter Ash(m): My mom said, 『Peter, how many kids in your school look like you？』 I said, 『Nobody, that's the point.』 She said, 『Yes, that is the point. You are made special, God made you the way you are. You're a special human being and you are unique and you are different from the others.

And never let anybody put you down for who you are. And we love you and you're unique and you're special.』 And really my sense of self-worth was grounded in the fact that I was made the way I was for a reason and this was not an accident.

HOST: Constantly nurtured by his parents' love, and by a deep faith in God, Peter Ash grew up with a strong desire to help others.

Peter Ash(m): In my very early career development, I was in sales／marketing but it didn't take long before I decided that I felt God's calling to get involved in ministry. I was ordained in the ministry for a decade. And during that time I was involved in all kinds of ministry opportunities, helping people, serving communities and really felt very much alive doing what I felt God had asked me to do.

HOST: After that point Mr. Ash moved into business, an endeavor he remains involved in, but the bulk of his time is now spent working on Under The Same Sun's charitable activities.

Peter Ash(m): The big dominant thing in my life right now is my work with Under The Same Sun. I believe that God has given me the gifts to be entrepreneurial, to now use them and to use the wealth that He's blessed me with to make a difference in the lives of others. So the biggest joy we have now is being able to change someone's life, to use my faith in God to say, 『Everything I have is not mine.

Every dollar in the bank is not mine. And the Earth is the Lord's and everything in it.』 So everything I have is a gift from God. And I offer it with an open hand freely to be used by Him to make a difference in other people's lives.

HOST: Don Sawatzky is the Director of Operations for Under The Same Sun and has accompanied Mr. Ash to Tanzania a number of times to help further the charity's mission.

Mr. Don Sawatzky (m): Our particular focus right now is on people with albinism in Tanzania and more generally on the continent of Africa. We've established an office there now that has ２１ employees; １３ are people with albinism themselves.

They're all Tanzanians. We're extremely proud of this. We have an office in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), and from that office they go out to the various places.

Supreme Master TV (f): Is Tanzania a country that has more people with albinism than other countries？

Mr. Don Sawatzky (m): Yes, they have a significantly higher rate of albinism than most of the rest of the world. The numbers we're using, and these numbers vary considerably depending on researchers and groups that are talking about it, but we're saying that it's about one in ２０,０００ here in Canada, the United States and Europe.

So you can live your whole life and never really encounter a person with albinism here. In Tanzania, the number that we're using there, is about one in ２,０００.

HOST: To enable people with albinism to live more joyful and fulfilled lives, Under The Same Sun offers several different programs.

Mr. Don Sawatzky (m): We have four basic things that we do there; we have ESF, Education Scholarship Fund that focuses on creating educational opportunities for children with albinism and adults with albinism. We also have an advocacy in public awareness team that does advocating by creating awareness for the public about the genetic condition of albinism.

We have a group called Health Education and Emergency, that is set up specifically for the persons with albinism in our Education Scholarship Fund, to ensure that they are educated about their own health. And if they have any health needs, if they need more vision care, skin cancer care, we will take care all of their health needs, and also train them on how to take care of their own health, since many of them don't know that. And our last department is the Media International Affairs.

HOST: The Educational Scholarship Fund has enabled over ３００ children and young adults with albinism in Tanzania to attend high quality private boarding schools in their country.

Peter Ash(m): And now they're getting the best education money can buy in that country. And they are now getting their health taken care of. They are getting teachers who are attending to them more than ever before. They're being accepted. And so our vision is that now these ３００ kids who are all the way from kindergarten up to university age, that you fast-forward １０ years and you see these kids who have now been in these good quality school environments getting an education, what they will be capable of doing？

They will be taking their rightfully place in Tanzanian society. So they will become business people and teachers and lawyers and broadcasters and stay-at-home moms and dads, and they'll become community leaders and ministers.

HOST: On a trip to Tanzania in late ２０１０, Peter Ash visited a little boy with albinism named Manyasi, whose life has been transformed since he began to attend a private boarding school near the city of Mwanza thanks to Under The Same Sun.

Peter Ash(m): He's happy, he's smiling; his demeanor is completely different than when we saw him the first time. I had an hour's visit with him, and my wife and I gave him a few little gifts, and books and things and we had a good time. And as I was leaving, I was holding his hand and I walking toward the bus to leave the school, and he said 『One day I plan to be president.』

There's never been a person with albinism as a president of any country in the world I know of. I don't know if Manyasi will make it or not. But, whether he's president or not, he'll make a big difference, because you can see already that seed of belief he has in himself.

HOST: There are encouraging signs for people with albinism in Tanzania in terms of opportunities to fulfill their dreams. In ２０１０, Salum Khalfani Bar'wani was elected to the Tanzanian National Assembly, winning the Lindi Town constituency seat in southern Tanzania, thus becoming the first elected albino in the nation's history.

Mr. Bar'wani stated, "My joy has no end. The people of Lindi have used their wisdom and have appreciated clearly that albinos are capable.』 Hadra Badru from Mwanza is a beauty queen featured in 『Black and White,』 a ２０１０ documentary made in collaboration with Under The Same Sun by Afro-Canadian director Jean-François Méan. 『Black and White』 introduces a number of Tanzanians with albinism and their stories to the world.

Hadra(f): I decided to enter the Miss Mwanza beauty contest because I always envied the models I saw on TV. And I asked myself: Why is it that people with albinism like me never enter？

HOST: Under The Same Sun continues to work tirelessly to support and assist people with albinism and Peter Ash has this wonderful message for all those with the condition.

Peter Ash(m): You're a beautiful person. God created you the way you are. You're not a mistake. You're not an accident. God doesn't make mistakes. And you are his daughter, his son and he loves you. And you must hold your head up high. Be proud of who you are.

HOST: Peter Ash, Don Sawatzky and Under The Same Sun staff, our sincere thanks for raising awareness about albinism and for striving to ensure that the special needs of Tanzanians with this condition are being met. Your uplifting work provides a guiding light for the world to follow, and we wish you much success in your future noble endeavors.

For more details on Under The Same Sun, please visit: www.UnderTheSameSun.com Or connect with them on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/UnderTheSameSun