SUPERSTITION PUTS AFRICAN ALBINOS IN DANGER|在非洲被視為惡兆 白化症者陷入險境

Albinism is a congenital genetic disease. Due to the lack of melanin, the skin and hair color is white. Albinos' eyes are very sensitive to light, and some only go out at night after the moon has risen. In Africa, there are a lot of superstitions connected with albinism, with people believing albinos would bring both good luck and bad luck. Some people believe that having sex with albinos will cure them of HIV. Others believe that body parts from albinos are magic, so some of them are hunted, kidnapped and murdered. On Tanzania's Ukerewe island there are 75 residents with albinism. In the past, parents with albino children brought them to live on the island to avoid danger, so that it became a sort of sanctuary for people with albinism. On June 13, the residents held the first UN International Albinism Awareness Day. ==RAMADHAN KHALIFA, President, Ukerewe Albino Society== Through the World albinism Day we can make our voices heard, we albinos in Tanzania have a channel as do those in other places so we can change supersitions and get the world to accept albinism. In Africa, people with albinism are particularly conspicuous and mysterious. In some African countries, albino children are seen as unlucky and suffer discrimination as soon as they are born. They suffer in lack of education opportunities and in lack of jobs. They are also seen as having magical properties, for example having sex with an albino person is rumored to cure HIV. For a tribe in Tanzania's northwest, the Sukuma, albinos are magical. They believe that powerful potions, charms and amulets for good luck and wealth can be made using their body parts . ==Albino child (speaking March, 2015)== They cut off my hand, they didn't cut off anything else. They hit my mother in the head and then they took a big knife and came after me. In Tanzania the complete body of an albino can fetch US$75,000, or around NT$245,000. This is a huge amount of money in this country with a poverty rate of 66 percent and an unemployment rate of 12 percent. So some people take the risk of being hanged for murder and hunt albinos. Last year in 25 African countries there were 445 attacks on albinos. Next to Tanzania, Malawi saw 70 kidnaps of albinos since November 2014, with at least 18 murdered and five albino people missing. ==DEPROSE MUCHENA, Regional Director, Southern Africa Amnesty International== it can be traced to the absence of visible policing, this has been one of the major drivers, that people who are working with criminal gangs do so with impunity because they cannot be traced. As the situation became so serious, finally in April, the Malawi government gave an emergency order. If anyone was found to be involved in the kidnap or murder of an albino, police could shoot on sight to stop them. At the end of May, the Malawi government announced a ban on cross border purchase of materials from Tanzania for witchcraft. The United Nations feels that Malawi's 10,000 albinos face extinction and held an International Albinism Awareness Day to raise awareness of the condition and change old, superstitious attitudes. Africa's albinos have actively participated in the Day and its activities hoping their albino children can live without fear for their lives.