JOHN KULEKANA, 20th January 2010 @ 21:00, Total Comments: 1, Hits: 2616
AT the age of 16 years, Richard Feruzi, a boy from Ilemela District in Mwanza Region, dreams of being a politician cum human rights activist.
Richard, is an albino and in Standard Seven at Mitindo Primary School in Misungwi District, some 40kms south of Mwanza city.
He has already composed dozens of songs in condemnation of perpetrators of killings of albinos and several others in praise of the leadership of the country.
"I can play a big role in global campaigns against discrimination in whatever its form, as well as promotion of peace and love," says Richard, who has been a pupil at Mitindo since 2004.
He says that the Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda and the National Assembly Speaker, Mr Samuel Sitta, were among the people whom have inspired him to become a politician.
Richard is one of 105 pupils with albinism at Mitindo special centre in Misungwi district, which was initially established in 1956 as a middle school before becoming an upper primary school in 1967.
Mitindo Primary School Head teacher, Mr Juma Abdallah, says it introduced vocational training in 1975, some three years later it started to admit blind pupils and in 1989 began to enrol those with albinism.
Mr Abdallah adds recently that the school was currently having a total of 1,134 pupils, out of them 86 in pre-school classes and six on vocational training programmes like masonry and carpentry.
He says out of 147 disabled pupils, 42 were blind and the rest were those with albinism. The headmaster lists several challenges faced by the school including the influx of pupils during the last three years, following increased killings of albinos, since many parents brought their children to the centre for security purposes.
"Albinos have impaired vision, their skin is sensitive to the sun and need special care. Our school have limited facilities to enable them achieve best learning results," Mr Abdallah told visitors led by the Tanzania Albino Society (TAS) Mwanza Chapter patron, Mr Altaf Hirani.
The school needs special textbooks for blind pupils and those with impaired vision due to albinism. Mr Hirani says that there was need for increased campaign locally to encourage people support less fortunate members of the society, including albino children.
"People can effectively support albino youths upon proper mobilisation. There are reports that the nation is currently spending up to 90bn/- annually on weddings and other profligate activities.
"We can achieve quite a lot if half of such resources are directed to orphaned children and those with disability," Mr Hirani points out in his appeal for increased domestic philanthropy.
Misungwi District Education Officer, Mr Peter Ntalamka, also urges increased support to disabled children to enable them lead descent lives during their adulthood. Children with disabilities such as albinism and blindness can be helped to achieve their full potential through proper education.
They can become learned people and live descently. He also joins the voices of those condemning killers of albinos, saying there was now a lot of fear in families and villages in most parts of Mwanza Region.
Some parents dump their children with albinism at Mitindo School and never come to see them at all. School authorities are forced to take care of the abandoned children for all their needs.
Albinos need hats and sunglasses to protect them from the sun. They also need lotion to avoid damage of their delicate skin. Experts say albinism is an inherited condition present at birth, characterised by a lack of pigment that normally gives colour to the skin, hair, and eyes.
There are many types of albinism, all of which involve lack of pigment in varying degrees. The condition, which is found in all races, may be accompanied by eye problems and may lead to skin cancer later in life.
Albinism is a rare disorder found in fewer than five people per 100,000 in the United States and Europe. Other parts of the world have a much higher rate; for example, albinism is found in about 20 out of every 100,000 people in southern Nigeria.
Experts point out that the condition arises from a genetic defect and occurs in humans and other vertebrates. Because they lack the pigments that normally provide protective coloration and screen against the sun's ultraviolet rays, albino animals rarely survive in the wilderness.
In humans with generalised, or total, albinism, the affected person has milk-white skin and hair; the iris of the eye appears pink, while the pupil is red.
Vision abnormalities such as astigmatism, mystagmus (rapid involuntary oscillation of the eye), and photophobia (extreme sensitivity to light) are common. According to the Secretary General of Tanzania Albino Society (TAS), Ms Ziada Msembo, 8,724 albinos were registered with the NGO by June, last year.
"We believe that our society had not reached and registered everyone with albinism, especially those in rural and remote areas," Ms Msembo notes.
The Lake Victoria Zone, where most murders have been committed, with Mwanza having the highest number of these atrocities, should start being the focus of the media.
In these places, fishing and mining occupations seem to be associated with the superstitious beliefs in albino killings, and if the media plays its part well here, the problem will greatly be reduced.
The message gathered from the witchdoctors is that one could prosper if albino body parts are mixed with a special magic potion. This is the area that the media, through 'group communication' approach, could play a part by making the people of that area understand that there is no wealth obtained through witchcraft.
Statistics show that Mwanza Region has the highest number of witchdoctors, with at least 3,000 registered ‘sangoma’ of all types.
The media could make a thorough analysis and discover which ones are genuine, and which one are fake, then propose stern measures to deregister them.
Media reports in 2008 quoted one man called Shilinde (41) in Mwanza, who had confessed in a Sengerema Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania that he had been a wizard since he was three and that he had killed his first victim his contemporary aged eight in Magu.
Reports alleged that the same person is still around, and the police had not arrested him for some interrogation.
Now, could the media investigate this case and make sure that the law takes its course in dealing with this person? Shilinde claimed he was living in Gambusi Kuzimu (sometimes known as Gambosi or Gambushi) where he could not go back because his fellow sorcerers and witches are angry with following his first church repentance.
Can the media investigate this place and make the public know about its authenticity. The only person who has pursued Shilinde story is Vicky Ntetema of the BBC, but unfortunately the Tanzanian media has not seen Vicky as a hero, and thus collaborate with her in the fight against albino killings.
Vicky went to Magu where she was told that the Gambusi Kuzimu had vanished many years ago, but if she wanted to see it, the heavies in the witchcraft could give her some medicine which will lead her into the village which Shilinde who wants to be called Daniel now says they have all professionals, all means of transport and everything you would find in a modern city.
The task of Tanzanian journalists is to find the witchdoctors who are peddling albino killings and not looking for the city of wizardry.
Total Comments on the above stories (1)
Comment
Hello, I applaud your effort to explain the plight of people with albinism in Tanzania. You summarize the situation very well and discuss it in very rational terms and explain the role that education must play it helping to end the terrible treatment.
I would like to make one correction though. People with albinism almost always have pupils that are light blue or light gray but are translucent. The pink coloration that appears in certain lighting conditions comes from the reflection of light off the retina at the back of their eyes (which are red (due to blood vessels) rather than black , because of the lack of pigment in the retina). This is just a more pronounced instance of the 'red-eye' effect that may happen with anyone in photographs.
This may seem a minor point but it is important to the overall education effort to let everyone know that people with albinism are NOT red-eyed demons or spirits that disappear rather than die. They are normal human beings who just happen to lack pimentation.
I hope that you will continue to educate people about the realities of albinism. Thanks you.
On a separate note, are you aware that the U. S. House of Representatives is preparing to address the issue of the treatment of albinos in Tanzania. You may find out more at www.asante-mariamu.org
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