The amazing story of the Tanzania Albinism Collective

Available for over a year

Thereza stands on the stage, bobbing animatedly as she sings: "Here we are on the stage, the Tanzania Albinism Collective. Far across the ocean, we're making waves." It's hard to believe that when charity workers met Thereza ten years ago, she was living apart from her family in a darkened room, being fed "like an animal". Thereza has albinism, a genetic condition that causes a lack of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes. She lives on Ukerewe Island, Tanzania, where despite making up a sizeable proportion of the population, people with albinism are often persecuted, stigmatised and segregated. Last year Thereza and 17 other people with albinism from Ukerewe Island formed the groundbreaking Tanzania Albinism Collective - a project that enabled them to tell their stories through music and song. In 2017 they came to perform at Womad, in what for many of them was their first time leaving the island. Kathryn Tickell meets the group's producer Ian Brennan to find out how TAC is changing its members' lives, and we hear Thereza live in performance, singing the group's happiest song. Watch the rest of Thereza's session on the World on 3 website: http://bbc.in/2u3AkX9 Image of the Tanzania Albinism Collective performing at Womad 2017 by Aimee Valinski.