August 24, 2010
To all our friends,
I thought you would be interested in this very moving story.
Mariamu Staford is a women with albinism from a small village in
Tanzania, East Africa. In 2008 while sleeping with her two year old son,
Mariamu was attacked by two men who cut off her arms hoping to profit
from the gruesome trade in body parts of people with albinism. Her son
was unhurt and she survived the loss of her arms after spending weeks in
a hospital.
After the original segment aired on ABC News 20/20 highlighting her
plight, volunteers from all over worked to bring her to the United
States and to Elliot Weintrob of the Orthotic Prosthetic Center in
Fairfax Virginia. Mariamu is adjusting well to life after the attack
with her new prosthetic arms.
Mariamu is determined to be intellectually and economically empowered,
and wants to control her own life and raise her son in peace and safety.
Her dream is to open a center in Tanzania providing training, education
and counseling services to people with disabilities.
Please watch the updated 20/20 show on ABC this Friday August 27, 2010
at 10p/9central and forward this e-mail to everyone you know. It’s a
story that needs to be told.
Also this is the 20/20 link that originally introduced us to Mariamu. –
Cut and paste to your browser.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/africans-albinism-hunted-tanzania/story?id=85
67612
Thanks to everyone,
Pat
Patrick Gaffney
O&P Coordinator
Orthotic Prosthetic Center
8330 Professional Hill Drive
Fairfax, VA 22031
703-509-3500 c
703-698-5007 o
703-207-9395 f
gaffva@gmail.com
www.orthoticprostheticcenter.com
