Inverness County Cares

Inverness County Cares (ICC) members met many remarkable people at the Kawambwa School in Zambia. This month we have chosen Fancy, an albino teacher at the St Mary’s School. His autobiography gives a sense of the challenges of living as an albino in Sub-Saharan Africa.

 Many people in Africa still believe that giving birth to a child with albinism is a curse and that the child can only be used for sacrificial ritual purposes. Hence the parents will be blamed, condemned and isolated from the rest of the family and community which makes many parents of children with albinism neglect them.

I was a firstborn son in a family of five girls and the only child born with albinism. My birth in a northern province of Zambia, brought confusion and conflict to my family, for some members on both sides did not welcome me (because of my albinism) and later made my father and mother separate for some years.

I began my schooling but sadly due to my poor sight and how badly some of my peers treated me, my parents were forced to look for a school that would suit my condition. I moved to Saint Odilia Special School for the Visually Impaired (SOSS) in Mporokoso. I and my four younger sisters started living a difficult life as children of a single mother, whose only income at that time was selling tomatoes and vegetables at the market.

Grade 8, was a wonderful and memorable year, for I was adopted by Chalice (chalice.ca), it was a life changing experience and that same year my parents decided to live together and we celebrated the birth of our last-born sister.

I moved on to  Mporokosa Secondary School and completed my senior secondary education. I was accepted to study for a three-year teaching course of information and communication technology and visual impairment in special education, at Zambia Institute of Special Education in Lusaka. I am now in my third and final year of completing my course. Financially it has been difficult for me to pay college fees in full, but I have survived.

My education at SOSS, made me realize the importance of choosing a  career so that I can help my fellow brothers and sisters with visual impairment have equal opportunities. Eventually my dream of being a teacher did come true and I went for my first teaching experience at SOSS. Teaching learners with visual impairments is very satisfying and I am enjoying my work.                                                                                                                            I wish to thank everyone who has contributed positively to my life, despite all the negative attitudes towards children with albinism and visual impairment. My special thanks to you the reader of my story, thank you for taking your precious time to read this.

Betty Jane Cameron (ICC) adds, “The first time I saw Fancy was at a football/soccer game where he coached and ran effortlessly the length of the field. I had no idea he was visually impaired. Fancy talked about the difficulties of travel by bus and transferring or waiting in unfamiliar places; of walking on the streets and fearing someone would attack him, or taunt him as if he were worthless; and the ever-present anxiety, worrying every night that he may be attacked in his home and kidnapped or killed for body parts. He told us he has never felt safe except at SOSS. He wondered how albino folks were treated in Canada.

 ICC always welcomes new members. Individuals who wish to donate can use the donate button on our website  https://invernesscountycares.com  or send a cheque to Inverness County Cares, Box 99, Judique, NS, B0E1P0. Tax receipts provided.

John MacInnis, Inverness County Cares (ICC) member reflects on his adventures in Zambia:

Our trip to Northern Zambia with the Chalice team was truly a trip of a lifetime! We received a warm welcome, in appreciation of the help provided by Chalice (Chalice.ca), who sponsor 420 children in the Kawambwa and Mporokoso communities. Our hosts were very hospitable and we were always safe and well looked after. 

We were honored to be invited into homes in the community where we experienced the realities of their daily routines. We saw 10 people living in a three-room home, with several generations sharing a very small space. Seventy percent of people live off the land and have very little money. It is a place where owning a bicycle is a distinct advantage.

The Chalice team moved on after five days and we settled into our schedule created by Sister Agnes at the St. Mary’s school. She is a very organized leader who laid out tasks for us each day. My first assignment was to work for two days with Joseph the braille transcriber. He began his work by scanning text books into a word program, then adding explanations of pictures, graphs, and visuals and lastly processing the word data through a braille printer to create a braille page. Joseph was also a talented operator of a braille six key typewriter.

Every student at the school is taught to read in braille, even if they have some vision, for many of the them experience deteriorating sight as they mature. The students read braille by running their fingers over the bumps as quickly as we can read with vision.

My next assignment was to paint one of the dorms. They are two large rooms each with a washroom and shower. One of the teachers, an assistant cook, and I were the painting team. ICC paid for the paint which was the best that could be obtained in the town, but was similar to our old white wash. We had to put three coats of paint on the walls and four coats on the window frames! It took us five days to complete one dorm building. Next we replaced about twenty windows, which were only about one third of the total broken. We also replaced damaged light fixtures and missing light bulbs. It is difficult for the children with poor vision to see in the dorms and classrooms, when the bulbs are missing or burnt out.

Trades persons or handymen are always appreciated at the two schools, as maintenance is always needed. Money for repairs never gets in the budget. When I asked Sister Marjory, the accountant, to put money in the budget on a regular basis for maintenance, her answer was “What do we do, fix the buildings… or feed the children?” Very hard to argue your point with that response!  

 ICC always welcomes new members. Individuals who wish to donate can use the donate button on our website  https://invernesscountycares.com  or send a cheque to Inverness County Cares, Box 99, Judique, NS, B0E1P0. Tax receipts provided.

This is a braille type writer.

Teachers in Nova Scotia have expectations as to a basic functioning classroom, sufficient supplies, text books, assistance for special needs and a spacious well-equipped room. The teachers at the St Mary and St Odilia schools in Zambia have much lower expectations. When Charlotte Rankin, Inverness County Cares member and retired  Inverness County teacher  visited St Mary and St Odilia schools in Zambia she encountered the blunt reality of a school system that is bare bones. However, she also saw a school with students eager to learn and a group of committed and hard-working teachers, the majority of both groups being blind, albino or visually impaired.

The classes in the Kawambwa Project schools are held in sparse (but clean) brick buildings with polished cement floors. Teaching aids are almost non-existent and consist mainly of a Braille slate which the children use to manually and painstakingly take notes on their lectures. Children have a stylus and must work on the reverse side of the paper to punch the correct combination of 6 holes  going right to left, to represent the braille letters.

In most classes they rely mainly on rote learning where students listen and repeat what the teacher is reading from the text book. Since most of the teachers are visually impaired or blind the text books need to be transcribed into Braille for the teacher. Charlotte tells us that one of her tasks was to read the written text to the teacher who transcribed the lessons into Braille.

The classrooms are very bare without any of the basic tactile learning manipulatives used in Canadian classrooms. We are well aware of the varied learning styles of students but because of the scarcity of all teaching supplies and aids the children rely mostly on auditory learning and their skill at memorizing the lectures.

Charlotte mentions one blind teacher in particular, Mr Chembe who is a Grade 7 teacher with a class of 14 students and 3 text books/readers. Charlotte helped in his class by reading  stories in his English class. Mr Chembe would lead a discussion on the story and when several students answered in unison, he was remarkably, able to recognize the voice of each individual student. Despite his inability to visually view his students, Chembe had a wonderful rapport with them. That says a lot!!

The school has a library but it is very under supplied. It has few English books or transcribed braille books, to encourage the students to research or acquire a love of reading. Books are not leveled and students just have their memories or scant notes to help them study for their exams.

There is WIFI available in the school office but it is very slow and this along with the high cost, limits its use. If faster internet and enough computers and tech support were available this could provide the school with many resources to enhance the learning of Braille and provide audio curriculum. The school operates with this bare minimum of supplies and staff not out of choice but by necessity. The school atmosphere is respectful and positive and much that is good is happening in the lives of these vulnerable students.

ICC welcomes new members to our monthly meetings. Those  wishing to donate can use the donate button on our website  https://invernesscountycares.com  or send a cheque to Inverness County Cares, Box 99, Judique, NS, B0E1P0. Tax receipts provided.

Inverness County Cares (ICC) is a local charitable organization, founded in 2012 and based in Inverness County, NS, with a mandate to assist children who are in desperate need.  Their current project involves supporting two schools for albino and visually impaired students in Northern Zambia.

These children face many life challenges. They are constantly in fear for their lives because their bodies and body parts can be sold to witchdoctors for very large amounts of money. Because of the hopeless poverty in this country many people are desperate enough to resort to murder to earn money in the marketing of albino body parts. In addition to these dangers they are often shunned by their families and the entire village because of witchcraft superstitions which lead people to believe that albinos are ghosts or enchanted. Paternity is often questioned especially in a community of colour, since they appear to be of a different race.

Albinism brings health problems that make life very difficult. Because of the lack of melanin, their eyes are very sensitive to light, they have poor depth perception, lazy eye (strabismus) and often are legally or completely blind. People with albinism have skin that is very sensitive to the sun. Sunburn is the most serious complication because it can increase the risk of developing skin cancer. A 2011 article published in the journal Dermatologic Clinics states: “Within Tanzania, less than 2% of albino children were expected to reach 40 years of age.” In order to protect persons with albinism from the sun’s UV rays sunglasses, protective clothing, hats and sunscreen are required. Some individuals may also need prescription eyeglasses to correct vision problems. Sunscreen is too expensive for many in sub Saharan Africa, forcing persons with albinism to stay in the shade or risk developing skin cancer. Albinism is a very misunderstood condition. There is a great need for education to de-stigmatize the condition, mitigate sun damage and correct public misconceptions.

With this appalling combination of circumstances most persons with albinism avoid leaving their homes during the day and fear being abducted if they venture out at night. Taking into account all of these challenges, persons with albinism are forced to live a very isolated life. 

Individuals who wish to donate can use the donate button on our website https://invernesscountycares.com  or send a cheque to Inverness County Cares, Box 99, Judique, NS, B0E1P0. Tax receipts provided. For more information contact ICC members John Gillies 902 787 3441, John MacInnis 902 787 2475 or Colleen MacDonald MacLeod 902 787 2251.