Anyone out there?

There are times I feel like a lone ranger when I am doing this blog. Why? You may ask. I think it is the feeling that there is very little that seems to be done about the prejudices people have of albinos.

It is a crazy feeling altogether, but I guess I am speaking my mind when I say this. People seem not to care about what our brothers and sisters, the albinos, are going through in Tanzania.

I would expect people to have changed by now, but the animosity continues and as someone rightly said: “It is not over until it is over.” I think that is true judging from what is happening on the ground.

Being a teacher, I meet with different people. People with different perspectives; people with different ways of looking at things. And, sometimes, I feel helpless when the children I teach tell me things that they were told by their parents about albinos.

And I can assure you that most of the stuff that children are told by their parents is not good. They are told to hate albinos; to look down upon them and to call them names.

In fact, some of them admitted to me that they wouldn’t be comfortable if their parents knew that they had talked to someone about what they were told.

Is there anyone out there who can talk sense to such parents, parents who "wreck" their children’s lives by poisoning them with the drivel that albinos are to be avoided like the plague. Please someone drum some sense into such people.

Is there really anyone out there?

Help needed: School struggles to educate Albino children

Some of the pupils at Mitindo Primary School in Misungwi District, Mwanza Region

The school needs special textbooks for blind pupils and those with impaired vision due to albinism. Mr Hirani says that there was need for increased campaign locally to encourage people support less fortunate members of the society, including albino children. Albinos need hats and sunglasses to protect them from the sun. They also need lotion to avoid damage of their delicate skin.

People can effectively support albino youths upon proper mobilisation. There are reports that the nation is currently spending up to 90bn/- annually on weddings and other profligate activities.

AT the age of 16 years, Richard Feruzi, a boy from Ilemela District in Mwanza Region, dreams of being a politician cum human rights activist.

Richard, is an albino and in Standard Seven at Mitindo Primary School in Misungwi District, some 40kms south of Mwanza city.

He has already composed dozens of songs in condemnation of perpetrators of killings of albinos and several others in praise of the leadership of the country.

"I can play a big role in global campaigns against discrimination in whatever its form, as well as promotion of peace and love," says Richard, who has been a pupil at Mitindo since 2004.

He says that the Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda and the National Assembly Speaker, Mr Samuel Sitta, were among the people whom have inspired him to become a politician.

Richard is one of 105 pupils with albinism at Mitindo special centre in Misungwi district, which was initially established in 1956 as a middle school before becoming an upper primary school in 1967.

Mitindo Primary School Head teacher, Mr Juma Abdallah, says it introduced vocational training in 1975, some three years later it started to admit blind pupils and in 1989 began to enrol those with albinism.

Mr Abdallah adds recently that the school was currently having a total of 1,134 pupils, out of them 86 in pre-school classes and six on vocational training programmes like masonry and carpentry.

He says out of 147 disabled pupils, 42 were blind and the rest were those with albinism. The headmaster lists several challenges faced by the school including the influx of pupils during the last three years, following increased killings of albinos, since many parents brought their children to the centre for security purposes....

WORD FOR JOURNALISTS...

Can the media investigate this place and make the public know about its authenticity. The only person who has pursued Shilinde story is Vicky Ntetema of the BBC, but unfortunately the Tanzanian media has not seen Vicky as a hero, and thus collaborate with her in the fight against albino killings.


Vicky went to Magu where she was told that the Gambusi Kuzimu had vanished many years ago, but if she wanted to see it, the heavies in the witchcraft could give her some medicine which will lead her into the village which Shilinde who wants to be called Daniel now says they have all professionals, all means of transport and everything you would find in a modern city.

The task of Tanzanian journalists is to find the witchdoctors who are peddling albino killings and not looking for the city of wizardry.
Read the Rest Here

Religious denominations condemn albino murders

Islamic and Christian denominations within the country have strongly condemned murders of albinos and the elderly. They said people who perpetrate such killings are sick in the head and want them to stop such notions immediately.

From discussion yesterday in Dar es Salaam in the conference organised by Muslim and Christian followers, leaders of these religions joined together in declaring cooperation with the Government in fighting the war against these murders.

At this conference, Evangelist Moses Ndimbo from the Evangelists Fellowship of Tanzania, said there is no short-cut to becoming wealthy and that the only way to accumulate wealth is to work hard: there is no other way.

He said the act of traditional healers deceiving citizens that they will gain wealth by killing albinos and the elderly is unacceptable because there is no truth at all that success follows from killing a person.

“I request the Government to cancel all permits and boards of traditional healers and ban the display of such boards, which motivate citizens to go to the healer,” he said.
For his part, Dr. Sule Seif from the National Muslim Council of Tanzania (BAKWATA), was astonished to see people believing superstitious beliefs in this century of science and technology.

He said Muslims and Christians will work together to eliminate these acts and have prepared strategies to go throughout the whole country educating citizens about what God says about murder and murderers.

On giving a word of thanks, Treasurer of the Albino Association of Tanzania, Abdilah Abdular, congratulated these efforts and asked religious leaders to preach especially in village areas unreached by religion.

“Many healers have no religion and that’s why they are able to advise such brutality, I ask religious leaders to reach village areas where many of them are so they can know God.” he said.

District Commissioner orders a count of all albinos

Translated from Nipashe Newspaper by Jean Burke

The district commissioner of Lindi, Magalula Said Magalula, has directed division and ward officers to list the number of all albino people, with the aim of enabling the government to plan strategies to protect their safety.

Magalula gave this instruction, when opening the meeting of the Lindi district advisory committee, conducted in the council hall of Lindi village, on 23rd December last year.

He said, due to the brutal acts carried out against albinos, there is a need for district leadership to have accurate statistics, including understanding where albinos live, and the parents, relatives and neighbours who live with them.

Magalula stated the purpose in carrying out this census, apart from knowing their situation with regards to security, is a result of suspicions that some parents, relatives and neighbours cooperate with murderers in killing albinos out of greed for money.

He said that having a complete register available will help this government district one way or another, to know where albinos live, the security of their situation and to see how the government can assist their protection or when they encounter problems.

Since the wave of albino murders has erupted in the country, the death of one albino has taken place in Lindi district. The body was found floating in Lukuledi river one year ago.

Lindi Region, is estimated to have more than 700,000 residents, and it is claimed to have more than 170 albinos.