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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Tanzania “importing” Albino body parts? – This is Insane!

It is quite unfortunate that albino killings are continuing unabated, within and without Tanzania, while most of the leaders in our country remain mum over the whole issue.

Killings of albinos within and without Tanzania as reported in the local media, I believe, are just a tip of the ice berg. Many more cases go unreported. That is a matter of common sense.

What you see or hear is not usually as much as what you don’t get to see or hear. Catch the drift!

The recent cases of albinos being killed in Burundi and their body parts being sold to Tanzanians: witch doctors; men and women who believe the drivel of wachawi; gold miners who toy with the idea of striking it rich…and the list continues.

These groups of people believe that the body parts of an albino are the key to a life of abundance. They believe that when these parts pass through the hands of “people in the know” (witch doctors and wizards), and “concoctions” made of “them”, then, the graduation stage is set: graduation to a life free of worry and full of economic bloom.

There are so many things that beat my understanding in this whole issue. I also cannot bring myself to understand how we, as Tanzanians, can change into a country that is given to importing albino body parts for ritual purposes (or for any other reason for that matter!). This shows how low we have sunk as a community.

A community that seems to blatantly and foolishly believe that we can achieve our goals in life without sheer hard work; a community that frowns upon people who are diligent and industrious; a community that has thrown all caution to the winds and does not care two hoots about the values we are passing to our children and coming generations.

We have failed as a society. The million dollar question is:
Where did we miss the mark? And what can be done to remedy the situation before it wreaks even greater havoc?

The answers lie within us. But, sadly, we know not where exactly…

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