East Africa and especially Tanzania is a territory with an abnormally high proportion of albinos - it is 15 times higher than the world average. Albino negroes are the most vulnerable part of the local society - they are hunted for, they are chopped into pieces and eaten as medicine. The West rescues them in special boarding schools.
On average, there is 1 albino for every 20 thousand people in the world. In Tanzania this ratio is 1: 1400, in Kenya and Burundi - 1: 5000. Scientists still cannot clearly explain why it is in these territories that the percentage of albinos is so high. It is known that both parents must have the gene for this deviation in order for their child to be born transparent. In Tanzania, albinos are considered the most outcast part of society, and they are forced to marry among themselves. Perhaps this is the main reason for the abnormally high percentage of such people in these territories.
The high number of albinos is "regulated" by the consumer - literally! - the attitude of "classic blacks" towards them. For at least five centuries, there is a belief here that the flesh of an albino is healing, and a real hunt is arranged for them. Since 2006, at least 71 albinos have died in Tanzania, 31 managed to escape from the clutches of hunters. The excitement of the catchers can be understood: the flesh of an albino, if you sell it to healers and sorcerers in parts - tongue, eyes, limbs, etc. - costs 50-100 thousand dollars. This is the average Tanzanian's earnings in 25-50 years.
The demand for albinos has increased dramatically with the spread of AIDS in Tanzania. It is believed that eating dried genitals cures this disease.
Until recently, hunting for albinos was almost not punished - the system of mutual responsibility of the local society led to the fact that the community basically declared them “missing”. But Western public opinion, outraged by the brutal practices in Tanzania, forced the local authorities to reluctantly take up the search and punishment of cannibals.
In 2009, the first trial of albino killers took place in Tanzania. Three men caught a 14-year-old albino, killed him and chopped him into small pieces in order to sell to the sorcerers. The court sentenced the villains to death by hanging.
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But this incident made the cannibals more inventive - they switched from killing albinos to chopping off their limbs. Even if the criminal is caught, they will be able to avoid the death penalty, and will receive only 5-8 years for grievous bodily harm.
Over the past three years, at least 90 albinos have had their arms or legs cut off, and three have died as a result of such "operations". Below in the photo you can see these victims of barbarism.
98% of Tanzanian albinos do not live to be 40 years old. But this is not only due to their murder (for the sake of eating). Their skin and eyes are especially susceptible to ultraviolet light, and therefore, by the age of 16-18, albinos lose their eyesight by 60-80%, and by the age of 30 they have a 60% chance of developing skin cancer.
It's easy to save from health - you need to constantly use sunscreen and wear sunglasses. But in poverty-stricken Tanzania, people have no money for all of this.
Albinos have one hope of salvation - the attention of the West. And he helps them survive. In Tanzania and other countries of East Africa, preparations are being made for albinos, and most importantly, special boarding schools are being built for them with Western money, where albinos live in isolation from the surrounding terrible reality behind high walls and guards.
What life looks like for albinos in Tanzania, in the photo below.
These are special boarding schools for albinos run by Westerners:
Sometimes they are killed, and sometimes they just cut off some part of the body. They are not only turned away by people, they are often sold for organs by their own relatives, and sometimes by their parents. They rarely live to be 30 years old and their main fault is that they were born albinos in a country where the cult of witchcraft reigns. In an exclusive interview with ReporterUA, Peter Ash, albino and head of the Under the Same Sun charity, spoke about how albinos live in Tanzania, who is Doctor God, and where fathers who sell their hands live. children.
Peter, how did you get started with albino problems in Tanzania?
In 2008, I read an article about what's going on in Tanzania at the Air Force. The author was Vicki and she worked undercover in Tanzania. I got interested because I myself am an albino. I called the editorial office to find out exactly what was happening in Tanzania, and realized that if I lived there, my life would be in danger.
In October 2008 I flew to Tanzania and created our organization "Under the same sun".
Peter Ash on a visit to Tanzania.
Arriving in Tanzania, what did you see on the spot?
I saw that society itself does not accept albinos. If an albino is walking down the street, then the word "Zeru" is heard in his back, which in the local language is translated as "Ghost". Also, slogans are openly shouted "If I get a part of your body, I will have money."
But these people have relatives, relatives, neighbors, who can, in turn, explain to their neighbors and relatives that albinos are ordinary people …
What are you, often, when an albino child is born in a family of black parents (and Tanzania is a country of blacks), the father abandons the family, since it is impossible to live with it in those conditions. This is seen as a curse. And this is at best. At worst, the father himself will sell his child for organs.
My own father? Why?
Father, uncle, family friend, aunt…. This is often a close person. Yes, such cases are ubiquitous. In Tanzania, a cult of witchcraft flourishes. And according to their beliefs, albino body parts are powerful artifacts that cost a lot of money on the black market. So the father is selling the arm or leg of his child, whom he considers a curse. One body part of an albino costs 3 thousand dollars.
What is the average salary in Tanzania?
800 dollars a year. So count it. At the same time, if you sell the whole body, as a whole, you can get 75 thousand dollars … and not work all your life.
Are there many albinos in Tanzania?
Yes. In general, this country has a very high birth rate of albinos. If in the whole world it is 1 person per 20 thousand, then in Tanzania it is 1 person per thousand.
What is albinism?
This is a genetic mutation. Note that albino children are most often born to non-albino parents.
Does albinism affect your life other than skin color?
Yes, it greatly affects vision. The eyes of albinos are also devoid of certain pigmentation, as a result of which many have terrible vision - they cannot see either close or far. It is very difficult for children to learn in schools - they do not see either the blackboard (far away) or the fine print in the books.
Also 70% of albinos die from skin cancer. The sun is bad for us.
And Tanzania is a very sunny country …
Yes, few albinos in Tanzania live to be 30 years old.
What is the oldest albino age in Tanzania that you are familiar with?
Mmm. I am not personally acquainted with him, but he is about 50 years old. I do not know of any cases of albino over 50 years old in Tanzania. If not cancer, if not the case, then albino hunters.
Where do these hunters come from? Is this some kind of sect?
Relatives or parents organized 65% of cases of murders of albinos. Albinos often don't go to school or work. First, they are practically not hired anywhere. Second, they are simply afraid. A school friend may be … you know. As for groups, witchcraft is considered one of the most powerful "religious" movements in Tanzania. This is religion, medicine, and just a way of life.
How many people believe sorcerers?
About one third. One third are Christians, one third adhere to Islam and one third to witchcraft. The witch doctor is God on earth. Actually, to a greater or lesser extent, everyone in Tanzania is engaged in witchcraft. But this is harmless witchcraft - all sorts of herbs, stones. There are those who sacrifice chickens. And there are those who sacrifice people.
Why, in most cases, are children killed?
Purity. The answer to this question is purity. 65% of killed albinos are children. Do you want to heal and wash away your sins? Do you want health, money and good luck? Kill the sinless and pure albino child, make such a sacrifice to the spirits. Or cut off a handle for him. These are the beliefs. Besides, children are easier to kill.
Does this happen all over the place? Countrywide?
No, more pointwise. In small towns, suburbs, where people just don't know that killing is bad. For them, the norm is to hunt albinos. Here you and I know the commandment "Thou shalt not kill," but they do not.
Maybe then there is a sense in enlightenment?
Yes, that's what we are doing. In addition to helping with the organization of education for albino children, we are also engaged in an educational mission, we work with local churches. I myself have been a pastor for 10 years.
Do you know what's amazing? That this "infection" is creeping into big cities, no matter what. There is a larger market and opportunities. For example, at first the murders began in the suburbs of Moanza (this is the largest city in Tanzania), and then suddenly the murder was committed in the city itself.
The everyday life of albinos in Tanzania:
Are there any cases when the victims managed to escape?
Yes, at the moment it is 6 or 7 survivors. All of them were injured: someone was left without an arm, someone without a leg, someone lost both.
How do they live on?
We help them, move them to another place. We send children to closed schools.
How about emigration? Maybe this will be the way out?
Our organization has already dealt with this issue. However, the government is discouraging the emigration of albinos. To admit it is to admit that there is a problem. And they don't want to admit it.
Peter, are there any other organizations helping your organization? Foundations?
Financially no. At the level of information and correspondence, yes. Only worked with the Salvation Army.
UN? Have you contacted the UN?
Yes. At the level of conversations, everything ends. They didn’t help.
How big is your charity?
We do everything that we can do on our own. Under the same Sun has two offices, one in Canada and one in Tanzania. There are 13 of our employees in Tanzania, 8 of them are albinos. They work with churches, hospitals. They are engaged in improving the education of albinos, providing legal assistance, relocating victims, placing children in schools.
Meetings of the "Under the Same Sun" office in Tanzania.
A Tanzanian teenage girl sits in the women's dormitory of a public school for the disabled in Kabanga, a village in the west of the country near the town of Kigomu on Lake Tanganyika, June 5, 2009. Albino children have been admitted to school since the end of last year, after Tanzania and neighboring Burundi began to kill albinos in order to use their body parts in witchcraft rituals.
Mabula, 76, sits on his haunches in a bedroom with an earthen floor, near the grave of his granddaughter, five-year-old Mariam Emmanuel, a little albino who was killed and dismembered in an adjoining room in February 2008. The girl was buried right in the hut so that hunters for body parts of albinos would not take away her bones. The picture was taken on January 25, 2009 in a village near Mwanza.
Amani, 9, sits in a recreation of an elementary school for the blind in Michido on January 25, 2009. He enrolled here after the murder of his sister, Mariam Emmanuel, 5, an albino girl who was killed and dismembered in February 2008.
Albino children play in the courtyard of an elementary school for the blind in Michido on January 25, 2009. This school has become a real refuge for rare albino children.
In this photo taken on January 27, 2009, 28-year-old Nima Kayanya sculpts a clay pot at her grandmother's home in Ukereva, Tanzania, where her brother and sister now live, who are also albino like her. Ukerewe, an island on Lake Victoria near the town of Mwanza, is a safe haven compared to other regions in Tanzania where albinos live in fear for their lives, as they are being hunted down. more and more often their internal organs and even their hair are used for the preparation of witchcraft potions.
Albino children during a break at the recreation of Michido Elementary School for the Blind January 25, 2009. This school has become a real refuge for rare albino children.
A Tanzanian Red Cross Society (TRCS) volunteer holds the hand of an albino toddler at a TRCS picnic at a public school for the disabled in Kabanga, west of the country, near the town of Kigomu on Lake Tanganyika June 5, 2009.
Taken on May 28, 2009, this photograph shows parts of the human body, including a thighbone and flayed skin, displayed in a courtroom during the trial of 11 Burundians. The defendants are charged with the murder of albinos whose limbs were sold to healers from neighboring Tanzania, in Ruyigi. During the trial, the Burundian prosecutor, Nikodeme Gahimbare, demanded from one year to life imprisonment for the defendants. Gakhimbare demanded life imprisonment as punishment for three of the 11 accused, eight of whom were in the dock for the murder of an eight-year-old girl and a man, which was committed in March this year.
An albino child takes part in a picnic organized by the Tanzanian Red Cross Society (TRCS) at a public school for the disabled in Kabanga, near the Tanzanian city of Kigoma June 5, 2009.
A teenage girl rewrites examples from a blackboard in a classroom at an elementary school for the blind in Mitindo on January 28, 2009 in Tanzania.