Life of Albinos in East Africa threatened: A most bizarre and dramatic consequence of having a skin color disease.

 

Superstition is occurring throughout the world and has sometimes devastating results. For example due to the poaching of the Assam rhinoceros in India and of the black and white rhinoceros in Africa these animals are on the brink of extinction. The hunters are only interested in the horn of these animals, which is appreciated for its supposed aphrodisiac value. The powder of the horn is smuggled to the markets of Southeast Asia, where it fetches a high price.

 

There were recently some reports on the killing of people with albinism in East Africa, especially Tanzania. Something similar, but more gruesome was at stake there. Human poachers were attacking albinos, mostly children with the intention to deliver their body parts to witch doctors for a handsome fee.  Their organs, which are considered to bring luck and prosperity, are used in magic potions. At least 30 Tanzanians have been murdered this year alone. Albinos in Burundi have been taking refuge after three of them were killed by gangs apparently seeking to sell body parts in neighbouring Tanzania. The murders have spread to Kenya as well, where an albino woman was killed by the end of May 2008. Her eyes tongue and breasts were removed. This is a new phenomenon, first reported on Monday, 17 December 2007 Rapes of albino girls and women have been reported in Zimbabwe (Tuesday, 14 January, 2003), where many believe that having sexual intercourse with a person with albinism can cure HIV/AIDS. The murders mainly take place in rural areas, where the population is less educated or not at all. At the same time they are more traditional in their belief, thus more superstitious.  Some fishermen near Lake Victoria weave even albino hairs in their nets in the belief to catch more fish. According to the police the superstition is reinforced by Nigerian films, in which witchcraft is often the main theme. It has been suggested that poverty and the recent food shortages are also a possible reason for the killings.

 

 

The skin condition of albinos is called albinism, which is characterized by a lack of melanin (pigment) in the skin and eyes due to a genetic defect of an enzyme responsible for pigment formation. In tropical countries they are extremely handicapped because of their white skin, which is highly sensitive to the sun, leading to severe sunburn, leathery skin and skin cancers, often causing an early death. As a consequence, they usually live a shielded and withdrawn life. Because albinism (see picture) is caused by two recessive genes, it is seen in higher numbers in societies that are isolated or where there is intermarriage. In one remote community — Aicuña, Argentina — the rate of albinism is 1 in 90. The “Moon-children’ of the Kuna Indians, inhabitants of the San Blas Islands just off the Atlantic coast of Panama, are born in 2 out of  100. They believe that the albinism developed because one or both parents gazed at the moon during pregnancy. In Tanzania the rate of tyrosinase negative albinism is 1 in 3000 (the total number of albinos is an estimated 170,000 albinos). The incidence worldwide is about 1 in 20,000. In most regions of the world albinos are surrounded with myths, but they are not insulted. In Fiji, the community embraces albinism as a protective spirit. In Suriname they make derogatory jokes about them,

Why is it that these albinos are attacked in East Africa? In sub-Saharan Africa, people with this hereditary condition are often thought of as having supernatural powers, which makes them a target. What could have been the basis for this belief? Going back in time, the first contacts of black sub-Saharan Africans with light skinned people (Berbers) might have been some 50.000 years ago when these Berber tribes were migrating in the Northern part of Africa. Of course there are no historic data from that age, however it is likely that these light skinned hunter gatherers lived side by side with the hunter gatherers of bordering sub-Saharan people. Up to 3500 years ago there was no trace of dominating light skinned populations over the indigenous black Africans south of the Sahara. Only when higher organised (more complex) civilizations developed, like that of the Egyptians, the Greek and especially the Romans, contacts were made between light-skinned people of the North with dark-skinned nomadic people of Africa. This was usually resulting in submission or slavery. However this was not much different from their treatment of submitted European tribes. The written history teaches us that the Romans also freed their slaves. Some of them reached high positions in the empire. A revival of that era came with the advent of slavery and later colonialism, which lasted from the 16^th till 19^th century (possibly up to the present time). Initially the Portuguese and the Dutch built fortresses along the coast of West Africa, principally for the slave trade. The local tribes at the coast and far inland were not submitted. The first large group of whites to settle in Africa was of Dutch origin (Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, 1652). This actually was the beginning of African colonialism, which reached full extension in the whole of Africa in the 19^th century. Here strong colonial governments took full power over the people, regardless of tribe. The African people must have become overwhelmed by the brutal powers of the white European civilians and their exorbitant lifestyle. They most likely have thought that someone with a white skin was synonymous with being mighty. In a superstitious mind it could have easily been assumed that indeed albinos were also vested with such powers. However, this does not explain why the albino killings developed only very recently.

What can be done to undo this? The Albino Foundation in Nigeria has condemned, in strong language, the killing of albinos in Tanzania for ritual purposes, while calling for a more drastic action to protect them. Meanwhile the Tanzanian government has ordered the police to protect the albino population. Police officers put together lists of albinos in every corner of the country. Albino children get escorts to and from schools. The Tanzanian president has even established a seat in the parliament for a sufferer with albinism to show that the government is giving them full support. The albino Member of Parliament Mr. Al-Shaymaa J. Kwegyir said: “People think that we have fortune and luck. That is why they kill us. But we are not happy at all”. A delegation of Albinism associations in Africa and the world advised Tanzania to create awareness about albinism. They volunteered to associate with the government of Tanzania, international development organisations and other non-governmental organisations in order to raise funds to rehabilitate albinos in Tanzania.

Wiete Westerhof