Shocking Truth Revealed;how Heartless Could people be.:Hunted like animals and sold by their own families for £50,000 - Tanzania's albinos hacked apart by witchdoctors who believe their body parts 'bring luck' in sick trade 'fuelled by the country's elite'
Tanzania's
albinos are being 'hunted down like animals' as greed for money and influence
drives families to turn on their own loved ones in a trade allegedly fuelled by
some of the country's most powerful people.
It is
believed albino body parts will bring a person wealth, or luck - and for that,
people are willing to pay as much as $3,000 or $4,000 for a limb, or as much as
$75,000 - about £50,000 - for the 'full set', a whole body.
People
with albinism are regularly attacked by people who chop their limbs off - an
act which either leaves them severely mutilated, or dead.
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Tanzania's
albino population is being hunted down by people who want to turn their body
parts into potions and charms
Albinism,
a hereditary genetic condition which causes a total absence of pigmentation in
the skin, hair and eyes, affects one Tanzanian in 1,400, often as a result of
inbreeding in remote and rural communities, experts say.
In the
West, it affects just one person in 20,000.
Since
people began collecting records of the attacks, there have been 74
killings and 59 survivors of attacks. Even the dead are not safe: 16 graves
have been robbed.
And
these are only the recorded cases.
The
most recent case saw four-year-old Pendo Emmanuelle Nundi abducted from
her home in December.
Her
father and uncle were both arrested in connection with her disappearance, but -
despite rewards offered of £1,130 and promises of swift action from the police
- she has not been found.
Charities
working in the area do not hold out much hope she will be returned safely, but
- listening to survivors' stories - it is likely her end is, or will be brutal.
Mwigulu
Matonange was just 10 when he was attacked by two men as he walked home from
school with a friend.
They
chopped off his left arm, before disappearing back into the jungle with their
'prize'.
'I was
held down like a goat about to be slaughtered,' he told IPP Media after the February
2014 attack.
In
Mwigulu's case, the two men were strangers: he had never seen them before.
But it
is understood suspicion turned on Pendo's father after he took half-an-hour to
report her abduction, despite there being neighbours who could have helped as
soon as she was taken.
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Who is
my enemy? Josephat Torner, a campaigner for albino rights who works with
charity Standing Voice, says family members have
been involved in planning attacks against people with albinism
It is
not just parents. A 38-year-old woman with albinism was attacked with machetes
by her husband and four other men while she was sleeping in February 2013,
according to a UN report.
Her
eight-year-old daughter watched her father leave the bedroom carrying her
mother's arm.
Those
living with albinism in Tanzania fear the lure of making a couple of hundred
dollars - three times the minimum wage earned in the country - is placing them
in danger, even from their own families.
'Now
we can see the parents who are involved in planning the attacks. What kind of
war are we fighting if parents and family do this? Who can we trust?'
Josephat Torner, who campaigns for albino rights, asked.
What
kind of war are we fighting if parents and family do this? Who can we trust?
You do not know who is your enemy
Josephat Torner, albino
campaigner
'You
do not know who is your enemy.'
Josephat,
who himself is albino, added: 'People with the albinism are being hunted and
killed for our body parts. It is because people want to become rich.
'We
are still living in danger. It is because people, they have different ideas.
Some people, they are thinking they should get our body parts and sell to
different places.
'The
question is, why? Why now? And who is behind the killings?'
Exactly
who remains unknown.
But
Josephat - who has received death threats for his work, and was attacked in
2012 - said: 'The big fishes are behind the issue. It has been really a
big discussion. If I say big fish, or big people, it is those who have enough
resources, enough money.
'People
sell the body parts for high prices. So it is not really small fish behind it.
'It
could be politicians. It could be those people.'
Many
albinos survive the attacks, but are left without arms or legs, which can sell
for as much as $4,000. Pictures from Universal Initiative Foundation
ALBINOS: THE GHOSTS WHO CAN BRING YOU
WEALTH, POWER AND LUCK
Albinos
are seen as curses, or 'ghosts' who can be wiped off the face of the earth, in
many part of Tanzania, and across Africa.
Albinism
is a hereditary genetic condition which causes a total absence of pigmentation
in the skin, hair and eyes, albinism affects one Tanzanian in 1,400, often as a
result of inbreeding in remote and rural communities, experts say.
In the
West, it affects just one person in 20,000.
Families
are often told to kill the children at birth. Yet, conversely, their body parts
are highly prized.
But
Josephat Torner sees the two as being intrinsically linked.
'The
killings and attacks is the outcome of the stigma and discrimination. If you
respect me, you won't think of me as a commodity,' he said.
Witch
doctors claim albino body parts are capable of bringing riches, power and
success, if used in potions, while a UN report report into the trade revealed
miners used the bone as amulets, or would bury them where they are drilling for
gold.
Fishermen
are said to weave the hair into their nets to help them catch more fish.
Children
are particularly vulnerable: their innocence is highly valued, and they are not
as strong as the adults attacking them.
Most of
the time, limbs are taken - but the report notes there have been cases where
victims were beheaded, genitals, ears, and bits of skin were removed; tongues
were cut out and the eyes and the heart gouged out.
Other
types of attacks reported included rape for healing purposes.
Possibly
most shockingly, some believe the louder the screams while the limb is removed,
the more potent the charm.
Josephat's
theory is backed up by Peter Ash, a Canadian who set up the charity Under the Same Sun in 2009.
'In a
country like Tanzania, which is the 25th poorest in the world, the only people
with that kind of cash are politicians or wealthy businessman,' he said.
But
whoever they are, those buying the witch doctors' wares are clearly powerful.
Only
10 people have ever been brought to trial for their part in albino attacks or
murders - but not one of them was a 'buyer'.
'The
only people who have been convicted are the witch doctors and the hired
killers,' said Peter.
'But
they would never name the customer - even when the witch doctor is given the
death sentence. Never has a customer been named.'
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