Beyond the pale

Bleached by Aids, the product of sex with the ghosts of white people, a result of sex during menstruation and players in a nefarious plot to re-colonise Africa - these are some of the accusations levelled at the albinos of Tanzania.

"When I had my son, I thought I had given birth to a European," laughs Janeth Msuya. But for Msuya's husband it was no laughing matter. "Because the baby was delivered by caesarean, he thought the hospital had switched our child for a mzungu, or white child," says Msuya.

Albinism is a disorder that affects one in 20,000 people worldwide and is caused by the body's inability to produce melanin, which results in patches of pale skin. Albinos are more likely to contract skin cancer and have poor eyesight. In order for albinism to occur, both parents must have the gene, although they may not be albinos themselves.

Msuya's son, Gift, is now a soft-spoken 10-year-old with dreams of becoming an accountant and being able to support his mother. Msuya has divorced Gift's father for reasons, she says, that go beyond their son's albinism. She spends her days selling food on the streets of Arusha, a city close to the Serengeti and Mount Kilimanjaro, while trying to take care of her son and his 14-year-old sister.

"It's a challenge having an albino child. It is difficult because I don't feel free to go and leave Gift alone and he needs protection. Protection in the form of clothes and sunscreen and how he interacts with others. Sometimes there is danger," says Msuya. 

The danger extends beyond the health risks. Seventy-one albino killings have been reported in Tanzania since 2006, and it is assumed many attacks and murders go unreported. The fact that a mere nine people, all of whom are on death row, have been convicted for murdering albinos does little to quell the fears this aggression stirs up.