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...Read the Rest Here
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The bleeding continues...but why?
Yesterday morning a ten year old albino boy named Gaspar Kaswalatrie was killed near Geita. Two men ran off with one of his legs. Neighbours reacted which is why the attackers ran away and did not take more body parts. His father jumped to his defense and was also attacked. His father, Elkana, is now fighting for his life in hospital.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Reporter exposes the epidemic of Albino killings
Mariamu Stanford, 28, a single mother with albinism from rural Tanzania, is just one of two Tanzanians with albinism known to have survived the gruesome attacks. Stanford talks to ABC News' Juju Chang.(ABC News)
I had just 24 hours to prepare for my trip to Africa. We had been reporting on the killing of Tanzanians with albinism, a genetic condition characterized by a lack of pigment in people's eyes, skin and hair, as part of an ABC News hour special...Read the Rest Here
Want to help Tanzania's Albinos? - Here's How
In Tanzania, life with albinism is a near death sentence. Fifty-four people with albinism have been murdered since 2007 -- their limbs hacked off and sold on the black market. Many locals believe there are magical properties in the blood, bones and skin of people with albinism.
Tanzania has one of the largest populations of albinos in the world -- an estimated 170,000.
(Positive Exposure/Rick Guidotti)Aside from gruesome attacks, Tanzanian albinos -- unprotected for a lifetime under the scorching African sun -- often die of painful skin cancer in their thirties...Read the Rest Here
Friday, October 2, 2009
Albino killers murder two accomplices
Story courtesy of The Citizen Newspaper, Tanzania
Unidentified people have killed two suspected contract killers of albinos who were being hunted by the police force in Mwanza Region.
Bodies of the suspects, Magessa Makala, 46, and Magole Nagabona, 35, were found abandoned in a bush at Ihebo village in Ukerewe District at around 10:00am on Sunday, Mwanza regional police commander, Jamal Rwambow, confirmed yesterday.
Sources in Ukerewe believe the duo were killed by their colleagues in the crime for fear of being named as was the cases with the deceased suspects who were named by their colleagues, who were nabbed with an albino organ, while scouting for a market for the bone in the city.
"It's true that we were searching for the deceased suspects whose names I could not reveal when their colleagues were arrested about a week ago for fear of interfering with investigation," Commander Rwambow admitted yesterday.
Mr Rwambow said it was not true that the deceased suspects committed suicide as misleading reports widely circulated in Ukerewe District at the weekend, hinting that the murderers had probably planned the killings in order to confuse the public and ongoing investigation.
"Bodies of the deceased suspects indicated that they were stabbed by sharp objects," he said.
Two people, a resident of Bugula in Ukerewe District, a resident of Mkudi Mlimani suburb situated at Ghana area in Mwanza City, were on August 13 nabbed with a bone believed to be of an albino at Sun City Guesthouse also in the city.
The two suspects who are still in police custody, who also serve as traditional healers, named their colleagues during an interrogation with police officers in the city.
They admitted receiving the albino bone from the deceased suspects, who brought it to the city for them to look for a lucrative market for the albino organ.
Unidentified people have killed two suspected contract killers of albinos who were being hunted by the police force in Mwanza Region.
Bodies of the suspects, Magessa Makala, 46, and Magole Nagabona, 35, were found abandoned in a bush at Ihebo village in Ukerewe District at around 10:00am on Sunday, Mwanza regional police commander, Jamal Rwambow, confirmed yesterday.
Sources in Ukerewe believe the duo were killed by their colleagues in the crime for fear of being named as was the cases with the deceased suspects who were named by their colleagues, who were nabbed with an albino organ, while scouting for a market for the bone in the city.
"It's true that we were searching for the deceased suspects whose names I could not reveal when their colleagues were arrested about a week ago for fear of interfering with investigation," Commander Rwambow admitted yesterday.
Mr Rwambow said it was not true that the deceased suspects committed suicide as misleading reports widely circulated in Ukerewe District at the weekend, hinting that the murderers had probably planned the killings in order to confuse the public and ongoing investigation.
"Bodies of the deceased suspects indicated that they were stabbed by sharp objects," he said.
Two people, a resident of Bugula in Ukerewe District, a resident of Mkudi Mlimani suburb situated at Ghana area in Mwanza City, were on August 13 nabbed with a bone believed to be of an albino at Sun City Guesthouse also in the city.
The two suspects who are still in police custody, who also serve as traditional healers, named their colleagues during an interrogation with police officers in the city.
They admitted receiving the albino bone from the deceased suspects, who brought it to the city for them to look for a lucrative market for the albino organ.
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