Death for Tanzania albino killers

Jasmine Anderson
September 23, 2009
9:17pm

Over the past year 25 albinos living in Tanzania, Africa have been killed. Usually these murders are committed with no consequence; suspects are taken in to custody but no charges or sentences are ever applied. But, today four men were sentenced to death by hanging for the killing of a fourteen year old albino boy. They attacked young Matatizo Dunia and severed his legs. In the past two years there has been an increase in the number of albinos that have been killed. These albino people are being killed because their body parts are said to bring wealth. When they kill these people they take their limbs to witchdoctors and use them for potions which are supposed to bring prosperity. Witchdoctors in Tanzania and other parts of Africa make tens of thousands of dollars from making potions from the limbs of the albinos. These witchdoctors also pay a lot of money for these body parts, which is why people are so willing to do it. The President of Tanzania band the practice of witchcraft, although many still practice, and asked for anyone with information about these killings to come forward. These murders have caused some of the 17,000 albinos living in Tanzania to move to other countries; they fear their lives.

My first reaction to reading this article was “wow.” I know witchcraft still goes on, but I didn’t know people were this into it. I think it’s ridiculous that they are willing to kill young children to attempt to gain wealth. Another article said that two of the last victims murdered were a 7 month old baby and a man who was attacked while eating his dinner. I think it’s absolutely heartless to kill someone, yet alone a 7 month old. I also find it ironic that none of the murders have been convicted, except these four. Maybe if people are actually convicted the number of these murders would decrease. This article also shows how far people will go when in poverty; considering Africa is one of the poorest countries. People will kill a child just to get some money. Also it shows how far people will go for what they believe in, or how far they’ll go to have a chance to gain wealth. Hopefully people speak out about these murders and people are convicted, because this is really terrible and there should be some type of consequence for killing these innocent people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8270446.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7518049.stm