Specs let Adolfu see, but only in class

WE FIRST saw him chanting his heart out at the front of the classroom as his teacher got the Swahili lesson under way.

Then moments later he was out in the heat of the playground, battering the skin of a drum with his drumsticks as one of the lead players in the school band.

At Lugolofu school, high in the Mufingi Hills in central Tanzania, 11-year-old Adolfu Tukano is just one of 500 pupils. But two things make him stand out. He is a striking albino boy, with his fair skin and fair hair contrasting sharply with his friends around him. The other is that in the classroom he uses a pair of spectacles to correct his extremely poor sight.

They allow Adolfu, his sister Juliane and two other albino children at Lugolofu to take part in everyday school life.

It is not very long since children who were blind or with extremely bad vision in Tanzania were almost hidden away by their parents, ashamed by the stigma. Albinism, a rare genetic disorder affecting one in 17,000 people, is caused by the body's failure to produce melanin, a pigment that protects skin against ultraviolet light. It also affects the development of the retina in the eye, causing severe sight problems that can only be corrected with artificial aids.

This is why a pair of spectacles can make all the difference to Adolfu and other children like him. It means they can join in all school activities on equal terms.

It's a success story of such simplicity that it is hardly credible by Western standards. Yet for Adolfu, there is a twist.

At the end of the school day he has to hand his precious spectacles back to his teacher for safekeeping.

With the needs of hundreds of other pupils to consider, his school cannot take the risk of Adolfu taking his glasses home and perhaps breaking or losing them.

In an area where average incomes are less than 50p a day, his family cannot afford the cost of replacing them even though the sum required is only a few pounds.

After school, Adolfu, his sister and the other two albino children have to return to a world of poor vision in which family and friends become a blur.

Adolfu's headmaster, Lawa Temelavanu, is acutely conscious that a pair of spectacles could make a big difference to the home life of some of his pupils but funds are short.

"At school Adolfu wears his spectacles all the time but at the end of the day we have to keep them in a safe place," he said.

"It would be great if he could wear them all the time, but we cannot allow him to do that. It would make a big difference to him if he could get a pair to use out of school.

"But to get spectacles for everyday, all-day wear would be very expensive. His family cannot afford it, especially as they have two albino children."

Alison Graham, head of Sightsavers Scotland, at Lugolofu on a fact-finding mission, said the charity was anxious to help. "For children with low vision, something as simple as a pair of glasses can make a huge difference, not only to their independence, but also to ensuring that they receive a quality education alongside their sighted peers. We're working closely with our partners in Tanzania to try to make sure that children like Adolfu and Juliane have access to glasses at all times."

Charitable funding helps in other areas too. Donations pay for the training of health workers who travel to the remotest villages to make sure that children blinded by disease or an accident receive the proper medical and social care. They encourage parents to allow children such as Adolfu to attend school in the first place, giving him the chance to mix with other children of his own age and not miss out on the education that will help get a job in later life.

Sightsavers International also helps to train teachers with the special skills needed to integrate children with low vision into the mainstream school environment.

Constantine Fidelis Luoga, the special needs education co-ordinator for the region, said the support was vital. "We have to train the teachers to train the kids with vision problems so they can get the best out of their schooling," he explained.

Standing out in the school playground is the motherly figure of Osmunda Mdemu, a health worker who is overturning years of cultural stigma by teaching parents that a child who is blind or with extreme low vision can have a future with the right help.

"My job is get them mobile and integrated into the normal school system," she said. "My pleasure is to see them playing with all the other children. When you see that happen, you can't help smiling."