The boy lives on an island in one of Tanzania’s lakes. He sits alone and lonely on a boulder watching his younger brother swim in the refreshing waters of the lake. No such pleasure for him. He cannot, dare not, take off his clothes to join his brother at play. The sun on his bare skin could kill him.

He is an intelligent lad and would do well at school, if they would let him attend, but of course they will not, they are afraid of him, afraid of what he is. He can write and read well and will read any written word that comes into his possession, his nose barely two inches from the page, blinking frequently to re-focus his eyes. It is through his reading that he has come to learn of the special schools for children such as he, where education can be achieved in safety. But they are full, or expensive.

He knows full well the danger he lives in, he has heard of the dreadful things that happen to his kind. Mutilation and rape. His mother, always his protector whilst growing up, is ill with HIV, her condition aggravated by the constant fear for her sons life. Once he obtained a magazine about animals in different countries, he looked forward to reading it to his sick mother and little brother. As he read about the tiger in India tears filled his eyes. Here was an animal who suffered the same fate, for the same reason, as himself and his kind. Many, many people supported the tiger’s right to be free, to be safe, to be accepted for what it is.

As he read he wondered how many people knew of his kind, how many people cared about his kind……Albino. Many men had become rich selling the limbs of albinos to witch-doctors. The men would come in the night, and hack and hack with their machetes and pangas. Crudely and savagely removing an albinos limbs, leaving their victims to bleed to death, or if they should survive, die later of infection, and should they survive that, live out their short lives a cripple.

The girls fared far worse. Before stealing their limbs the men would rape them, taking an albino virgin was believed to cure HIV/AIDS.They have been stripped of their basic human rights, they have been reduced to a commodity, a ‘get rich fast’ item that is considered to have no feelings, and therefore not worth having feelings about……..They are called White Medicine…….but this is evil and wrong, they are not

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tanzanian-Albino-Charity/185062838200762

Whilst doing research on another project I came across the following photo and thought it might be of interest to all here at Dr Photo.   It is one of 288 photos published by Adolphe Braun in 1856.  The photos depict Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione ‘modeling’ her wardrobe for the court of Napolean 111, to whom she was a mistress!!  I chose this particular photo because of its ‘modern’ pose, which considering it was taken over a hundred and fifty five years ago is remarkable.  The photographer was Pierre-Louise Pierson.  So, once again we have the Italian and the French leading the way in fashion by having possibly both the first fashion photographer and the first fashion model!…………………..Unless of course someone can come up with an earlier example!

“It’s true that sometimes you’re not the most spontaneous person, or the person with the best skin, but sometimes that’s alright.  These aren’t the only things that make up who you are.  People respond to you, like you, and love you because you’re a good person and that’s what makes you the person you are”  -  Laynna (Beauty Equation User)

Equation, the word actually means an act of equalling; the state of being equal.  There cannot be an equation without the component parts that go to make it up, in any of the sciences, but beauty isn’t a science, it is a concept.  The components that go to make up true beauty are well documented in the book “The Beauty Equation” by Nigel Barker.  Is it possible for any one person to have all the components set out in this book?  If it is, then please tell me about them, for I would love to meet this paragon of perfection!  No, even the author agrees that the flaws we come with are still part of the Beauty Equation, still part of that which equals out our overall….well, our overall us!  We cannot be everything, we cannot be everyone, we can only be ourselves.

Flaws! We’ve all got ‘em.  Love them or hate them, there they are glaring back at us from the mirror.  Yet the flaws we see in ourselves we are the most critical of, often way out of proportion to the supposed problem.  Why is it we can look at anothers flaws and acknowledge them as part of that persons character?  We can even find them endearing.  The main reason for this is we have looked beyond what we see on the outside and found within someone who has endearing qualities of the heart.  So why is it sometimes hard to see this in ourselves?  Why cannot we accept what we see in the mirror?  It is, after all, just the vessel for carrying around our true selves.  What is loveable about you, what is most alluring about you, what is good about you is contained within you.  We are not always blessed with a perfect ‘outside us’ so we have to make the ‘inside us’ shine through, become what people remember most when they have met us.  I personally would rather look as ugly as sin but well-loved and remembered kindly for whom I am, than the epitome of observed beauty and yet dismissed from peoples thoughts in a moment due to a bad character, an empty heart, and an uncontrollable mouth.  Of course, needless to say, being a sumptuous beauty both inside and out is the pinnacle of blessings, but all things being equal, trying to be the very best person we can, having an understanding of our own worth and a deep respect for other peoples make us beautiful, will make us an important part of life’s Equation.