Support for People with Albinism in Tanzania, Moshi

About the Project

Situation

In Tanzania, many people suffer from Albinism. This does not only cause dermatological problems, but often comes with reduced eye sight. This is a great issue especially for children, which are not capable of reading textbooks in school. An institute of the KCMC hosptial in Moshi supports people with Albinism with the Albino Care project, by handing out sun protection hats, sun protecting lotion or reading aids. BUt usually, the material is not sufficient for al patients.

Our Plan

Hand in hand with the Albino Care program, we want to support people with Albinism in Tanzania. The following aspects were part of our project:

- Sunglasses: We collected over 80 pairs of sunglasses (used and new) in Germany and brought them to Tanzania. The doctors of the Albino Care Project checked the glasses and handed them out to the affected children. Especially for people with albinism, the eyes need to be protected from UV radiation. The children accepted the glasses very well. We will continue to collect glasses from time to time in Germany and continue this project.

- Sun hats: We have purchased 300 sun hats from a company in Tanzania, some of which have already been distributed to the children, and the doctors are giving out more hats. The hats are well received as they are of high quality and also a real eye-catcher with our TeoG logo! We are currently checking whether hats can be sewn by handicraft schools for teaching purposes in a longer-term cooperation.

- Reading aids: With magnifying glasses and magnifying films, we can make it easier for children who have reduced vision due to albinism to attend school. We were able to bring different models to Tanzania, which are further tested by the children.

- Sunscreen: We were able to launch more than 4000 tubes of sunscreen to protect children's skin from UV radiation.
Sustainability
This project achieves the following sustainable development goals of the UN: