Albinos Being Murdered in Tanzania for Body Parts
September 22, 2009
For quite some time now, members of the albino population in the East African nation of Tanzania have been being brutally murdered, literally slaughtered, by people who believe that potions and charms made from their body parts, usually created by witch doctors, will make them wealthy and cause their lives to be filled with good luck. Albinism is a genetic condition that causes the absence of pigmentation to a person's hair, skin, and eyes. In many parts of Africa, albinos are commonly spurned and singled out because of their condition, often because people believe their condition was caused by a curse having been placed on them by an enemy. Many of the unfortunate victims have been children, who have been left to die after having their arms and legs crudely cut off, usually with a machete or similar cutting device. It is a common practice for witch doctors to grind the victim's bones, one of the ingredients of the potions they sell as good luck charms for big bucks.
"They are cutting us up like chickens," one albino said. "Our biggest fear now is the fear of living. If you leave work at night as an albino you are unsure of reaching home safely. When you sleep, you are unsure of waking …."
One sad case involved that of 13-year-old Elizabeth Hussein, who left her home to walk to the village to watch a film about Jesus. However, she never made it home. After watching the film, she was attacked along her route by a mob, wielding machetes, who literally hacked her to pieces.
Since 2007, fifty-three known albino children and adults have been murdered in a manner similar to that of Elizabeth Hussein, so that their murderers can obtain money, often thousands of dollars, for their body parts. In one instance, a man was accused of attempting to sell his 24-year-old wife to a Congolese businessman for $2,000, and in another instance a woman was accused of selling her albino baby daughter to a group of men who butchered her and drank her blood.
"My experience working with victims suggests that the perpetrators are greedy people who want to get rich quick," said a volunteer who works with a British charity. "In rural areas, people can sacrifice their own child. In urban areas, educated and rich people will look for somebody else's child."
Because the Tanzanian government seems to be doing very little to stop the senseless slaughter of innocent people for what most westerners would consider ridiculous nonsense, thousands of Tanzanian albino citizens are literally living in a state of "fear and abandonment," according to Peter Ash, the founder of the British Columbia non-profit group, Under the Same Sun, which is dedicated to help bring the slaughter of albinos in Tanzania and other African nations to an end.
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