Albinos too are human beings

News on recent attacks of albinos in Tanzania, including the murder of a young boy, is not uncommon, and is becoming a good business for those greedy human beings who will not hesitate to go to any extent in getting money or rich overnight.

According to the United Nations, four attacks on Tanzanians with albinism had been documented in just 16 days between the end of January and mid-February 2013.

The mutilation and murder of people with albinism in the East African country is often linked to witchcraft, the UN says.

Only five people have been convicted in Tanzania since 2000 for killing people with albinism, it adds. Some 72 people have been killed in that time.

Albino body parts are prized in parts of Africa, with witch doctors claiming they have special powers.

The Tanzanian government has promised to take action.

To those people who are hell bent on making money, they should always have it at the back of their minds that such people too are human beings.

As such, it is not right for anyone to cut their body parts, more so, to take their life for the purpose of some devilish rituals.

Is it not strange that over the year’s albino adults and children have been killed, just for nothing but to get money out of spilling their blood?

Some witchdoctors say that magic charms are more powerful if they contain body parts from people with albinism - this has led to a lucrative criminal trade in these body parts.

In Tanzania, the body parts of people living with albinism are used by witch doctors for potions, which they tell clients will help make them rich or healthy.

However, whilst the number of albino killings has fallen compared to previous years, fear is still strong as African albinos are also under threat from skin cancer.

And it is for this reason that some reports say they rarely live beyond the age of 40, a situation that must be looked into by our health experts.

“When men are inhuman, take care not to feel towards them as they do towards other humans”

Marcus Aurelius