Albino children in Tanzania gain refuge from murderous witch doctors

A woman cradling her baby, a young girl playing with her mother on the grass and a group of friends smiling for the camera.

Innocent scenes they may be, but these Tanzanians are in grave danger from all walks of life from fishermen and miners to witch doctors and murderers simply because they are albino.

Regarded as the ‘tribe of ghosts’ or ‘the invisibles’, albinos have suffered appalling treatment at the hands of their own people who butcher them for their body parts in the disturbingly mistaken belief they will bring them better health and good fortune.

Such is the threat against their lives, the Tanzanian government has been opening shelters for hundreds of albino children to offer them some chance of building a life for themselves.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who appointed the country’s first albino MP in 2008, has also commissioned task forces to investigate the killings.

Read more at The DailyMail Online.