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[madoka]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/af_africa_albino_killings

NAIROBI, Kenya � The mistaken belief that albino body parts have magical powers has driven thousands of Africa's albinos into hiding, fearful of losing their lives and limbs to unscrupulous dealers who can make up to $75,000 selling a complete dismembered set.

Mary Owido, who lacks pigment that gives color to skin, eyes and hair, says she is only comfortable when at work or at home with her husband and children.

"Wherever I go people start talking about me, saying that my legs and hands can fetch a fortune in Tanzania," said Owido, 36, a mother of six. "This kind of talk scares me. I am afraid of going out alone."

Since 2007, 44 albinos have been killed in Tanzania and 14 others have been slain in Burundi, sparking widespread fear among albinos in East Africa.

At least 10,000 have been displaced or gone into hiding since the killings began, according to a report released this week by the International Federation for the Red Cross and Crescent societies.

East Africa's latest albino murder happened in Tanzania's Mwanza region in late October, when albino hunters beheaded 10-year-old Gasper Elikana and chopped off his leg, the report said. The killing left Elikana's father, who tried to defend his son, seriously injured.

Albinism is a hereditary condition, but occurs only when both parents have albinism genes. All six of Owido's children have normal skin color.

African albinos endure insults, discrimination and segregation throughout their lives. They also have a high risk of contracting skin cancer in a region where many jobs are outdoors.

Owido, a high school teacher in the western Kenyan town of Ahero, says she was forced to transfer from a better teaching job on the Kenya-Tanzania border town of Isebania in 2008 after an albino girl she knew was murdered and her body parts chopped off.

The surge in the use of albino body parts as good luck charms is a result of "a kind of marketing exercise by witch doctors," the International Federation for the Red Cross and Crescent societies said.

The report says the market for albino parts exists mainly in Tanzania, where a complete set of body parts � including all limbs, genitals, ears, tongue and nose � can sell for $75,000. Wealthy buyers use the parts as talismans to bring them wealth and good fortune.

"Albinism is one of the most unfortunate vulnerabilities," said International Federation for the Red Cross and Crescent societies Secretary General Bekele Geleta. "And it needs to be addressed immediately at an international level."

The chairman of the Albino Association of Kenya, Isaac Mwaura, called the murders deplorable but said the killings have given albinos a platform to raise awareness.

Almost 90 percent of albinos living in the region were raised by single mothers, Mwaura said, because the fathers believed their wives were having affairs with white men.

"When I was born my father said his family tree doesn't have such children and left us," Mwaura said.

Some African communities believe that albinos are harbingers of disaster, while others mistakenly think albinos are mentally retarded and discourage their parents from taking them to school, saying it's a waste of money, he said.

Due to a lack of education, many albinos are illiterate and are forced into menial jobs, exposing them to the sun and skin cancer, he said. Those who manage to finish school face discrimination in the work place and are never considered for promotions.

"People are very blind to albinism but it is very visible. Now that we have this issue in Tanzania is when people have started to talk about albinism," Mwaura said. "Before there was a studious silence."

[calicoe]

Yes. Incredibly tragic and barbaric. Something needs to be done about it. They should be given refugee status.

[Joe666]

What do the wealthy do with the parts? Hang them on their walls for good luck? Keychains? Soups for stamina? Display cases?

[rocket_scientist]

[.38 Special]

Holy crap! I've read many books that featured at least a reference to albino Africans, but until now I'd not seen a photograph of one. She looks like an old white dude!

As mean as that perhaps sound, it certainly is startling how far a little pigment will go toward making one presumably extremely distinct from one race to the other. Bizarre.

It is a catch-22 in Africa. Preserve the old beliefs or the identity of Africa may be relegated to the colonial histories -- histories of deprivation, inferiority, and hatred. Dash the old believes or perpetuate some very heinous treatment of people based on their difference.

Sometimes it's not quite so simple as selective education. Like a house of cards, systems of belief are either maintained, made hybrid, or annihilated.

But it is certainly worthwhile to know that such customs vary widely throughout the continent, even regions, and not all albino folks are in danger.

Here is an example: Chinua Achebe described in his novel Things Fall Apart that twins were seen as evil and destroyed. The ethnic group in this novel are the Igbo, the majority ethnic group in Nigeria and much of the region surrounding it. One of my university professors, also an Igbo and not too far separated from Achebe's kin, reports that where he is from twins are cherished and seen as special, and much magic is shared between them.

The variation is wide, so do not despair.

[what the thunder said]

Does this remind anyone else of District 9 when that drug lord wants to chop off the protagonist's hand because he believes it will give him magical powers?

Anyway, this is terrible. Like many others, I had no idea that albinos were treated so badly in Africa. Discouraged from education? Wow.

[Tundra_Creature]

Yikes, that's some scary stuff, those poor people. And it's just so weird. I mean, alive they're treated horrible and are basically considered monsters, but when dead they're made into good luck charms? Seriously?

[Cordova]

Just look how Africans treat people in the states

http://www.thugreport.com/