The fear of being too white in Tanzania
Since the beginning of the year no less than 27 albinos have been murdered in Tanzania. Their deaths stem from a belief that albino body parts, such as legs and hair, give added powers to drugs prepared by traditional healers and witch doctors. So dead albinos are in big demand and can fetch big bucks. Recently a fisherman near Lake Rukwa in south-western Tanzania was planning to sell his albino wife for $3000 to two businessmen from the other side of Lake Tanganyika in the Not so Democratic Republic of Congo, but she was rescued by her family who brought in the police. President Kikwete has ordered a clampbown on this heinous practice, but this has to be enforced by the police who are poorly paid and often find it more lucrative not to get involved.
