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Albino Victim Evicted From Safe-House

More news stories on Africa

Erick David Nampesya, BBC News, October 19, 2009

One year ago, Mariam Staford Bandaba, an albino woman living in Tanzania, was viciously attacked by a machete-wielding gang who tried to kill her and sell her remains for witchcraft.

She escaped with her life, but only just.

The attackers chopped off one of her hands—the other had to be amputated in hospital, where she spent weeks recovering from her horrific injuries.

Traumatised, Ms Staford Bandaba then took the brave step of identifying her attackers.

She was taken to a safe-house where she lived under government protection.

But the government recently decided she could no longer live there, leaving the 28-year-old fearing for her safety.

The administrative officer in the village where she was re-housed, Erasmus Rugarabamu, told the BBC Swahili service that the situation had improved and no albinos had been killed in her home village in the north-western Kagera region in the past year.

The decision by the authorities comes just a few weeks after a court sentenced three men to death for the murder of an albino boy.

Albino murders

Ms Staford Bandaba is one of thousands of people with albinism who live in fear in Tanzania.

Her harrowing tale has become commonplace in a country where 53 albinos are believed to have been murdered in the past two years.

Albinos, who are pale because of a lack of pigment in their skin, have been routinely killed because witchdoctors say that potions made with their body parts will bring good fortune in love, life and business to those who use them.

The killings have also spread to neighbouring Burundi where at least 12 people have been murdered.

The victims were mutilated and their body parts are believed to have been sold in Tanzania to make potions.

One man was sentenced to death and eight others were jailed in Burundi earlier this year.

Ms Staford Bandaba’s alleged attackers have been caught in north-western Tanzania, the region where the vast majority of the murders have been carried out.

Tears

The story of her eviction caught the attention of a businessman who has agreed to let her and her mother live in a room in his house for a year.

But after that she has no idea what will happen to her.

Before moving out of the safe house, she told me that she broke down in tears when the district commissioner told her the news.

“I can’t imagine what will happen. What I did in front of him was just start crying.”

She is even more upset because it is not just her who had to leave.

Her father and four siblings who were taking care of her and feeding her were also evicted.

They have had no choice but to return to the village where she was so brutally attacked.

Her father, Staford Bandaba, admitted he was very anxious about reprisal attacks being carried out on his family.

“Those who are responsible, all their relatives are still living there in the village, and those released from prison, are still living where we were living. So how can we stay there?”

But Mr Rugarabamu defended the government’s decision.

“Some of the attackers were found not guilty, so we can’t keep them in prison, so they will be allowed to return to the village according to the law. But those found guilty are still in prison awaiting their fate.”

That is little comfort for Ms Staford Bandaba’s father.

Now that she no longer has government protection, “We are worried that they will finish her off.”

And he is not the only one who thinks that could happen.

Condemnation

“Albinos are still being hunted and we don’t yet know how to solve the problem,” one local resident says.

“We cannot understand this decision.”

“The government only seems to be doing half its duty. They started well and they should continue to help Mariam get a permanent house which will be safe,” another person tells me.

Albino children in a school for the blind in Tanzania

Tanzania’s president has introduced measures to protect albinos

President Jakaya Kikwete has said the albino murders have brought shame to Tanzania and his government has taken steps to identify and prosecute the perpetrators.

In March thousands of people took part in an exercise to identify those they suspected of being involved, by filling in forms anonymously.

The authorities have also issued a ban on all traditional healers, and several people have been arrested.

The government has now given Ms Staford Bandaba a plot of land to build a house away from her village.

But she says she has no money for the construction work, leaving her feeling abandoned at a time when she needs the help most.

“I was born an albino,” she says. “But my attackers have made me disabled. I am begging all Tanzanians to kindly keep on helping me, because my situation is now worse. I have no hands.”

Fortunately, a local businessman has heard her plea.

But in a year’s time, Ms Staford Bandaba will once again be faced with the prospect of having to return to the village where she was nearly killed.

Original article

(Posted on October 20, 2009)

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Comments

1 — sbuffalonative wrote at 5:35 PM on October 20:


If it’s not albinos, it’s witches:

Churches denounce African children as “witches”

http://tinyurl.com/yl6gz9h

2 — Awakened wrote at 6:10 PM on October 20:

1 — sbuffalonative wrote at 5:35 PM on October 20:


If it’s not albinos, it’s witches:

—- Correction: If it’s not Albinos, it’s US.

3 — Anonymous wrote at 7:19 PM on October 20:

So? What do they want us to do? Bring them all to the good ole USA? Where are the stories about what the black Africans do to the White South Africans? I guess this story is more important than saving any Whites from their savageness.

4 — Whiteplight wrote at 7:23 PM on October 20:

1 — sbuffalonative wrote at 5:35 PM on October 20:

If it’s not albinos, it’s witches:

Churches denounce African children as “witches”

http://tinyurl.com/yl6gz9h

> Looked at article, interesting how this keeps coming around.

> The main article does not point out the difference between albinism and a normal white person.

Albinism
Definition
Albinism is an inherited condition present at birth, characterized by a lack of pigment that normally gives color to the skin, hair, and eyes. Many types of albinism exist, all of which involve lack of pigment in varying degrees. The condition, which is found in all races, may be accompanied by eye problems and may lead to skin cancer later in life.
Description
Albinism is a rare disorder found in fewer than five people per 100,000 in the United States and Europe. Other parts of the world have a much higher rate; for example, albinism is found in about 20 out of every 100,000 people in southern Nigeria.
There are 10 types of the most common form of the condition, known as “oculocutaneous albinism,” which affects the eyes, hair, and skin. In its most severe form, hair and skin remain pure white throughout life. People with a less severe form are born with white hair and skin, which turn slightly darker as they age. Everyone with oculocutaneous albinism experiences abnormal flickering eye movements (nystagmus) and sensitivity to bright light. There may be other eye problems as well, including poor vision and crossed or “lazy” eyes (strabismus).
The second most common type of the condition is known as “ocular” albinism, in which only the eyes lack color; skin and hair are normal. There are five forms of ocular albinism; some types cause more problems-especially eye problems-than others.
Causes and symptoms
Every cell in the body contains a matched pair of genes, one inherited from each parent. These genes act as a sort of “blueprint” that guides the development of a fetus.
Albinism is an inherited problem caused by a flaw in one or more of the genes that are responsible for directing the eyes and skin to make melanin (pigment). As a result, little or no pigment is made, and the child’s skin, eyes and hair may be colorless.
In most types of albinism, a recessive trait, the child inherits flawed genes for making melanin from both parents. Because the task of making melanin is complex, there are many different types of albinism, involving a number of different genes.
It’s also possible to inherit one normal gene and one albinism gene. In this case, the one normal gene provides enough information in its cellular blueprint to make some pigment, and the child will have normal skin and eye color. They “carry” one gene for albinism. About one in 70 people are albinism carriers, with one flawed gene but no symptoms; they have a 50% chance of passing the albinism gene to their child. However, if both parents are carriers with one flawed gene each, they have a 1 in 4 chance of passing on both copies of the flawed gene to the child, who will have albinism. (There is also a type of ocular albinism that is carried on the X chromosome and occurs almost exclusively in males because they have only one X chromosome and, therefore, no other gene for the trait to override the flawed one.)
Symptoms of albinism can involve the skin, hair, and eyes. The skin, because it contains little pigment, appears very light, as does the hair.
Although people with albinism may experience a variety of eye problems, one of the myths about albinism is that it causes people to have pink or red eyes. In fact, people with albinism can have irises varying from light gray or blue to brown. (The iris is the colored portion of the eye that controls the size of the pupil, the opening that lets light into the eye.) If people with albinism seem to have reddish eyes, it’s because light is being reflected from the back of the eye (retina) in much the same way as happens when people are photographed with an electronic flash.

5 — Whiteplight wrote at 7:23 PM on October 20:

> So, in a common ceremony practiced all over the Western World, a cup of wine is blessed and majically becomes blood, a piece of bread is blessed and majically becomes flesh. So who are all these witch doctors? The point is that any acceptance of superstition, however well ingrained, is an invitation to all sorts of abuses, including anti-white racism.

6 — q wrote at 7:40 PM on October 20:

White skinned blacks with kinky hair. What an absolute horror.

But we had one like him in this country. His name was Michael Jackson.

7 — Anonymous wrote at 8:12 PM on October 20:

Indeed, superstition in Africans has caused many horrible crimes against other people, like in the above case where the Albino’s hands, which her attackers believed wielded special powers, were forcibly mutilated. Now she is permanently disabled.

Here is a related video which is about Africans committing horrible crimes against other people because of their superstition that I would recommend watching:

http://www.toxicjunction.com/get.asp?i=V5010

8 — Big Bill wrote at 8:23 PM on October 20:

Google “muti murders” or “muti killings” and see what you get.

They love small children because they are easy to kidnap, control and then cut up (alive) and piece out to “sangomas” (witch doctors) for “traditional medicinal” purposes.

There was a recent case a few months ago when some police busted a muti merchant selling a white woman’s hand.

If you read between the lines, it turns out she was a Dutch tourist who died In Africa and they cut off the best bits before sending the rest of her home.

9 — Soprano Fan wrote at 11:33 PM on October 20:

This is the continent where Stephen Hawking expects to find Bantu chemists, astrophysicists, nuclear scientists and researchers rivaling those in America, Europe and Asia.

Yeah, right.

10 — Jeddermann wrote at 12:44 AM on October 21:

This is muti or juju at work, take your pick. Witch doctor type magic directed at the albinos. Take body parts of a butchered albino for amulets, fetishes and such. OH MY! The pervasive aspect of black magic in African society and the overwhelming belief in same is something that westerners just cannot appreciate?

Here is the authoritative site with the full dope:

http://www.africancrisis.co.za/Home.php?Cat=14&

11 — Kill Your TV wrote at 9:18 AM on October 21:

I have an albino squirrel in my yard. Although I generally detest squirrels as annoying pests, I have come to admire “Whitey”. It is the hardest working squirrel, continually working gathering nuts and acorns for his (or her) winter stash.

Just an observation.

12 — Jasper wrote at 10:23 AM on October 21:

These albinos do not belong to our race and are of no concern to us. But it shows how racist black people can become when it comes to skin colour.

13 — Sardonicus wrote at 12:30 PM on October 21:

“The point is that any acceptance of superstition, however well ingrained, is an invitation to all sorts of abuses, including anti-white racism.”

As racial consciousness was much more common in the religious South during Jim Crow days, I can’t agree with your point. Moreover, I think atheistic Marxism, not religion, has been the source of most of the anti-white racism in the 20th century. I don’t have a problem with the free exercise of religion, but I dislike primitive savagery.

14 — ghw wrote at 5:48 AM on October 22:

12 — Jasper wrote:
“These albinos do not belong to our race and are of no concern to us”


That callous statement is going too far!
I do not advocate getting involved in the affairs of Africa, but still I can say that the albinos have my sympathy.

And to take it a step further, I can ask if this hunting of albinos today is what will be the fate of whites in some other century to come? It pays to give that prospect a thought. Yes, it is my concern!

Albinos are being hunted today only because Africans have more access to them (than us), and they have no power for self-protection. We, presently, are powerful. But any place where people are hunted for their white skin (or any skin) should be of concern to all of us.

PS. I am white, but I am also human! I deplore the hunting of gorillas, for instance; and of pygmies; why should I be indifferent to albinos?

15 — Hiding_Fish wrote at 3:31 PM on October 29:

Prof./Dr.Stephen Hawkings had better be careful or if some calamity occurs while in Africa searching for the next black super physicist and he’s stranded……Dr.Hawkings rather unique physical conditions will and his watch,expensive wheelchair etc will get robbed,murdered(in the most painful ,slow,way possible as to appease the “juju spirits”)and parts of him will be dried,sold and possibly eaten.Don’t do it Hawkings-stay in Cambrdge.


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