“I AM desperate to save my child,” says Martha Phiri, looking at her nine-year-old daughter Esther. The child, who has albinism, scribbles away in a book, oblivious to her mother’s concerns. People with the genetic disorder, which is characterised by an absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes, have long suffered from discrimination in Malawi, where superstition about the condition runs deep.
But in the past two years taunts have turned into deadly attacks. On May 23rd, 38-year-old Fletcher Masina became at least the 18th person with albinism to be murdered in Malawi since the end of 2014 (others have disappeared and probably been killed). The killings are barbaric. Bodies are abandoned with limbs cut off and organs ripped out. More than 60 related cases have been recorded. These range from murders to the theft of bones from the graves of people with albinism. Attacks are driven by the belief that albino body parts can be used in witchcraft to bring wealth.
A relatively peaceful country, Malawi has never seen such violence against people with albinism. Rather, it is Malawi’s neighbour Tanzania that had previously been associated with attacks. But the...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/215cnbB
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