Albino killings in Tanzania

[Mark Latimour]

Originally Posted by Article

Discrimination against albinos is a serious problem throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but recently in Tanzania it has taken a wicked twist: at least 19 albinos, including children, have been killed and mutilated in the past year, victims of what Tanzanian officials say is a growing criminal trade in albino body parts.

Many people in Tanzania — and across Africa, for that matter — believe albinos have magical powers. They stand out, often the lone white face in a black crowd, a result of a genetic condition that impairs normal skin pigmentation and strikes about 1 in 3,000 people here. Tanzanian officials say witch doctors are now marketing albino skin, bones and hair as ingredients in potions that are promised to make people rich.

As the threats have increased, the Tanzanian government has mobilized to protect its albino population, an already beleaguered group whose members are often shunned as outcasts and die of skin cancer before they reach 30.

Police officers are drawing up lists of albinos in every corner of the country to better look after them. Officers are escorting albino children to school. Tanzania’s president even sponsored an albino woman for a seat in Parliament to show that “we are with them in this,” said Salvator Rweyemamu, a Tanzanian government spokesman.

...

Vumilia was like many other Africans with albinism. She had dropped out of school because of severe near-sightedness, a common problem for albinos, whose eyes develop abnormally and who often have to hold things like books or cellphones two inches away to see them. She could not find a job because no one would hire her. She sold peanuts in the market, making $2 a week while her delicate skin was seared by the sun.

When Vumilia’s mother, Jeme, saw the men with knives, she tried to barricade the door of their hut. But the men overpowered her and burst in.

“They cut my daughter quickly,” she said, making hacking motions with her hands.

The men sawed off Vumilia’s legs above the knee and ran away with the stumps. Vumilia died.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/wo...97f&ei=5087%0A

[Matt_W]

People have the ability to do such abhorrent things, especially for the promise of wealth - I guess it is a lot easier if you dehumanise you victims.

[Ericman197]

Wow, this is probably the worst thing I have ever heard. It's one thing to discriminate against someone, that's happened thousands of times to different groups.

But these people aren't necessarily doing it out of hate, fear, or anything of that nature. They did it to make a quick buck.

I don't want to know what I would do if my family was starving, but at the very least they should have bandaged her and dropped her off at a hospital, or shot her in the head first. She probably would have died either way, but how could anyone just start sawing apart a conscious, living person? And then leave her to die?

[JMX]

See below.

[Mark Latimour]

Originally Posted by Ericman197

I don't want to know what I would do if my family was starving, but at the very least they should have bandaged her and dropped her off at a hospital, or shot her in the head first. She probably would have died either way, but how could anyone just start sawing apart a conscious, living person? And then leave her to die?

I don't think that people whose goal is to steal "parts" of Albino's really have the same level of "compassion" that you or I do operating within them!

[jazzy grille]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

I don't think that people whose goal is to steal "parts" of Albino's really have the same level of "compassion" that you or I do operating within them!

I am pretty sure there is not any.

[iamlowsound]

I just got back from Rwanda and I saw an article about this in a Ugandan newspaper. After experiencing the stigmata of "white people have lots of money" that is very prevalent in Africa. I am not overly surprised by this, after all Africa has an abundance of witchcraft and superstition. It is a very sad thing, but, as much as I hate to say it, there are much worse things happening in places such as Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo and bound to start happening in Uganda again soon due to the peace agreement falling apart. Africa as a whole needs lots of help, but unfortunately outside, western help has never been much help. Look at Rwanda, the west could have stopped the genocide with as few as 5000 troops, but what good would it have done? The hate would have still been there. It was an African solution that stopped the killing and I believe that is a very big part in why Rwanda is now so stable.

Am I saying abandon Africa and let them deal with their own problems? No, but I am suggesting that maybe the west help them by looking to African leaders for solutions, instead of trying to force western style ideas and ideals on a part of the world that is very un-western in history, culture and social structure. Western ideas just aren't going to work there.

Uhh, /Off-topic

lowsound

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by iamlowsound

I just got back from Rwanda and I saw an article about this in a Ugandan newspaper. After experiencing the stigmata of "white people have lots of money" that is very prevalent in Africa. I am not overly surprised by this, after all Africa has an abundance of witchcraft and superstition. It is a very sad thing, but, as much as I hate to say it, there are much worse things happening in places such as Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo and bound to start happening in Uganda again soon due to the peace agreement falling apart. Africa as a whole needs lots of help, but unfortunately outside, western help has never been much help. Look at Rwanda, the west could have stopped the genocide with as few as 5000 troops, but what good would it have done? The hate would have still been there. It was an African solution that stopped the killing and I believe that is a very big part in why Rwanda is now so stable.

Am I saying abandon Africa and let them deal with their own problems? No, but I am suggesting that maybe the west help them by looking to African leaders for solutions, instead of trying to force western style ideas and ideals on a part of the world that is very un-western in history, culture and social structure. Western ideas just aren't going to work there.

Uhh, /Off-topic

lowsound

Dude, you are a wise young man. You proved that by liking Peavey Foundations too.

[iamlowsound]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

Dude, you are a wise young man. You proved that by liking Peavey Foundations too.

Funny thing is I just posted in the basses forum about how good foundations are. The Africa stuff is from first hand observation, being there, talking to real people about real issues there, not the issues that we see on the 6 O'clock news. I have also read a lot of western opinions on what to do about Africa, and from being there, I don't see any of them working. What good is cutting the cost of AIDS medication 90% to $1000 a year when the average person living with AIDS makes between $1 and $2 a day and can afford to scrape together the money for their family to eat meat once a year?

The only thing that the west can do, that has been suggested by the west to help Africa is wipe out all Third World debt. When countries are using up 90% of their national budgets just to pay the INTEREST on their foreign debt, they can't move their countries forward. This is even worse if your country is landlocked because you have no money to build the necessary infrastructure. This causes them to borrow more money and make servicing the debt even more impossible. There are solutions to this and I have seen some of them put into place first hand, but they are either costly, or you need a large group of convicts that you can put to work (as in the case of Rwanda).

lowsound

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by iamlowsound

Funny thing is I just posted in the basses forum about how good foundations are. The Africa stuff is from first hand observation, being there, talking to real people about real issues there, not the issues that we see on the 6 O'clock news. I have also read a lot of western opinions on what to do about Africa, and from being there, I don't see any of them working. What good is cutting the cost of AIDS medication 90% to $1000 a year when the average person living with AIDS makes between $1 and $2 a day and can afford to scrape together the money for their family to eat meat once a year?

The only thing that the west can do, that has been suggested by the west to help Africa is wipe out all Third World debt. When countries are using up 90% of their national budgets just to pay the INTEREST on their foreign debt, they can't move their countries forward. This is even worse if your country is landlocked because you have no money to build the necessary infrastructure. This causes them to borrow more money and make servicing the debt even more impossible. There are solutions to this and I have seen some of them put into place first hand, but they are either costly, or you need a large group of convicts that you can put to work (as in the case of Rwanda).

lowsound

At the risk of being too political, I'm glad you are Canadian. Somebody in your country will actually listen to you if you get in government one day.

I think you are dead right in your observations.

[cheesemonkey]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

At the risk of being too political, I'm glad you are Canadian. Somebody in your country will actually listen to you if you get in government one day.

I think you are dead right in your observations.

+1 and +100 to both of lowsounds posts

[Jeremy Crockett]

Originally Posted by iamlowsound

...
The only thing that the west can do, that has been suggested by the west to help Africa is wipe out all Third World debt. When countries are using up 90% of their national budgets just to pay the INTEREST on their foreign debt, they can't move their countries forward...

How, exactly, does "the west" go about accomplishing that?

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by OctoberMooN

How, exactly, does "the west" go about accomplishing that?

Write it off as a business loss like any other bankruptcy instead insisting on of interest on debt that will never get to the principal, taking money from countries that could be used to generate weatlth instead of maintaining basket cases that people in west either feel sorry for or complain about aiding. Furthermore, if Africa starts growing, then Europe will no longer have to deal with waves of immigrants that it clearly does not want, and terrorism will likely look less attracted to people who can achieve their dreams at home in a concrete way.

[Jeremy Crockett]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

Write it off as a business loss like any other bankruptcy instead insisting on of interest on debt that will never get to the principal, taking money from countries that could be used to generate weatlth instead of maintaining basket cases that people in west either feel sorry for or complain about aiding. Furthermore, if Africa starts growing, then Europe will no longer have to deal with waves of immigrants that it clearly does not want, and terrorism will likely look less attracted to people who can achieve their dreams at home in a concrete way.

What caused their indebtedness to us?

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by OctoberMooN

What caused their indebtedness to us?

I don't know how much I can discuss this without violating rules on politics. Suffice it to say that most of their governments were not democratic, and the average African had no control over what corrupt leaders did with state funds. I think it is important to note that in Iraq, the USA forgave that nation's debt rather than saddle it with what Saddam Hussein had done.

[Joey3313]

Originally Posted by iamlowsound

After experiencing the stigmata of "white people have lots of money" that is very prevalent in Africa.

I stopped reading here.

I started laughing.

Either way, it's not really funny, but I enjoyed this for some reason. I just have this messed up image of lowsound wandering through Africa with holes in his hands.


Edit: Okay, finally read it. Good posts by lowsound.

[iamlowsound]

Originally Posted by OctoberMooN

What caused their indebtedness to us?

Also trying to not get too political here, so here is my limited understanding of it. After many of the Empires pulled out of Africa (England, France, Belgium, Germany ect), they also pulled out all the money that they were infusing into the colonies. Those colonies needed the money still, so they borrowed it. Corrupt leadership in many countries squandered it and couldn't produce any money of their own to pay it back. From my understanding. I don't think I could ever fully understand everything, there is a lot more to it as well.

lowsound