REACHING FOR THE STARS AND STRIPES
Children with albinism in Tanzania face violence inspired by a dehumanising superstition. One US charity is dedicated to helping them rebuild their lives. Carlo Allegri reports
Four children make their way home after receiving prosthetics – and possibly a dose of confidence – in the US, where they headed for treatment in March. In Tanzania they had suffered the most vicious assaults, triggered by superstition surrounding their condition, albinism. Attackers had severed their limbs and fingers and knocked out their teeth.
Travel and housing expenses for the children – aged 7, 14, 15 and 16 – were covered by New York charity Global Medical Relief Fund (GMRF), which helps children who have been injured in conflicts or disasters. And they were treated free of charge at Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. “When they come here, they have lost so much. They have lost part of their youth and part of their dignity,” says Elissa Montanti, GMRF’s founder.
“We put them back together,” she says. “When they go back, they have a stronger sense of empowerment.”
In order to stay in the US the children would have had to file for asylum. GMRF, however, could only afford to pay for the them while they were receiving medical care, says Montanti. Albinism is a congenital disorder that affects pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes. According to the World Health Organisation, in sub-Saharan Africa 1 in 5,000 to 15,000 people could be affected. In Tanzania, it affects about one in 1,400.
People with albinism in some societies are dehumanised such that their severed body parts are prized by witch doctors. A man or a woman with albinism can be regarded as a ghost who brings bad luck, in Tanzania. The UN estimates that at least 75 people were killed in Tanzania between 2000 and 2015 in connection with albinism. That, however, could represent a fraction of the attacks as most occur in secretive rituals in rural areas. As they moved through the stages of treatment and recovery, drawing, talking among themselves in Swahili, searching for YouTube videos and watching cartoons helped the children heal.
Mwigulu Magesa, 14, says he wants to be president of Tanzania one day. Emmanuel Rutema, 15, wants to be a doctor. Though they have a good grasp of English, which they study at home, the children were accompanied by Ester Rwela, a translator and social worker with the charity Under the Same Sun, which advocates for people with albinism.
“The first time the Tanzanian kids came in, there was not a lot of conversation. They were extremely shy. They kind of huddled together in a pack,” says Scott Kozin, chief of staff at Shriners Hospital.
“They weren’t used to us and we weren’t used to them, and there were a lot of awkward moments. And then as they got to know us, they started to open up to me and to the staff and to the therapists,” he says.
The children are able to attach and adjust prosthetic arms to their bodies, wash their laundry by hand and hang it to dry and make dinner. Near the end of their stay, they would walk into the hospital with confidence, sporting sunglasses and button-down shirts and looking “like they were home,” says Kozin.
Back to violence? Having survived impossible pain, 14year-old Mwigulu Magesaa gained some TLC in Philadelphia – before returning to Tanzania (Reuters) Geppetto: state-of-the art prosthetics were made available to the four children from Tanzania (Reuters)
Try this for size: Mwigulu is empowered after losing his arm to crazed thugs (Reuters) Wakey-wakey: Emmanuel Rutema, 15, is woken up by Mwigulu – the charity helped children for the duration of treatment but does not enable asylum applications (Reuters)
Sketchy: Emmanuel and co were housed by the charity in Staten Island (Reuters) My boy lollipop: three of the children enjoy some downtime in NYC (Reuters)
Sofa so good: the children relax in their temporary home – in Tanzania some regard people with albinism as ghosts bearing bad luck rather than innocents subjected to impossible violence (Reuters) Jolly air-hockey sticks: it took time for the children and those treating them to break the ice (Reuters)