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Albinism in Tanzania

Albinos in Tanzania are increasingly targeted by those who would kill them for their body organs, limbs and even hair to be used in luck potions by others seeking wealth and good fortune in business and professional circles. According to local residents, witch doctors use the organs and bones in concoctions to divine for diamonds in the soil, while fishermen have been known to weave albino hair into their nets hoping for a big catch on Lake Victoria. More than 50 albinos have been killed in Tanzania and neighboring Burundi in the past year…

One of three stories from the Big Picture today (along with an Israeli woman marrying in Syria who can now never to return to Israel and the Bajau, a seafaring nomadic people living in Malaysia), it’s quite harrowing and includes an image of human body parts. If you’d like to read more France 24 has an article from last year about the trade and the Wikipedia article on persecution of albinism has some more links.


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