Malawi teacher accused of trying to sell albino girl for $10,000

Yahoo – AFP, 15 Sep 2015

An albino child stands barefoot next to a teammate during football practice (AFP

Photo/Yasuyoshi Chiba)

Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - A Malawian teacher suspected of attempting to sell an albino schoolgirl for $10,000 was arrested Tuesday, police said, as the country battles to stop albino killings fuelled by superstition.

Primary school teacher Phillip Ngulube was with the girl when he was arrested in the northern city of Mzuzu and has been charged with abduction with intent to murder, police spokesman Maurice Chapola told AFP.

Ngulube was "caught by police on his way to selling the girl to an alleged Tanzanian businessman for six million Kwacha ($10,000)," said Chapola, adding it was likely she would be killed for her body parts.

An albino child is presented at the "Maison 

des Albinos" (Albinos house) in Burundi

(AFP Photo/Stephane de Sakutin)

The suspect told police the high school student was his girlfriend.

Albinos have white skin and yellow hair, a result of an hereditary genetic disorder that causes the absence of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes.

They are killed regularly in some African countries for their body parts — from genitals to bones — which are used in witchcraft rituals.

The plight of people with albinism has worsened in recent years, according to UN and police figures, with concerns that the October election in Tanzania this year will prompt more attacks as politicians seek luck at the ballot box.

A complete albino skeleton is said to be worth as much as $75,000, according to the Red Cross.

Since a surge of attacks against albinos in December, the UN estimates that nine have been killed in Malawi.

In June, Malawi launched a probe to establish the root causes of albino killings and identify who buys the body parts in the country and in neighbouring Tanzania and Mozambique.

The results of the probe have yet to be published.

Several Malawians are awaiting trial in connection with albino-related crimes, including killings, abductions and possession of albino bones.

Canadian model with vitiligo who inspires fashion world

Yahoo – AFP, February 13, 2015

Canadian model with vitiligo who inspires fashion world

New York (AFP) - Chantelle Winnie is taking the fashion world by storm.

The young Canadian model, who loves an English breakfast of sausage, bacon and egg, is the It girl of diversity in a world pilloried for brutal uniformity.

Diagnosed with vitiligo aged four, the same skin disorder Michael Jackson had, she overcame bullying and years of rejection to achieve her dream of becoming an international model.

Plucked from obscurity to appear on "America's Next Top Model" and chosen last year as the face of Barcelona label Desigual, she loves every second of her whirlwind, "amazing" life punctuated by lots of sleep and her mother's breakfasts in Toronto.

The 20-year-old has crossed dreams off to-do lists, but the biggie remains: gracing the cover of fashion bible American "Vogue," whose steely editor in chief Anna Wintour she has not met. Yet.

Bubbly and prone to loud guffaws of laughter, Winnie projects a girly exterior that belies a cast-iron determination.

She has become a spokeswoman for vitiligo, which causes white patches to appear across the body and affects up to two million Americans, and has learned to be proud of who she is.

"I could more label myself as even a spokeswoman for happiness!" she tells AFP in a New York hotel overlooking a gritty, wintry skyline of Manhattan.

But it has not been an easy journey to the catwalk for Desigual on Thursday, the first day of fall/autumn 2015 New York Fashion Week.

Brought up by single mom

Brought up by a single mother hairdresser, she flew regularly to see her father who comes from Jamaica and has a house in Atlanta.

"We lived on our own for a very long time and those are my happiest years, me and my mom," she said.

But she was badly bullied at school and as a teenager was rejected by every modelling agency in Toronto.

Like any self-respecting wannabe, she built a profile on social media where she was discovered by ex-model Tyra Banks, presenter of long-running TV reality show "America's Next Top Model."

Winnie was booted off the show in 2014 but Banks is clearly a huge inspiration and the two have remained close.

"You were already a star. I just gave you a platform to make sure people recognized that you were. Keep making me proud," she says, fishing out her cell phone to read a message from Banks.

"That really touched me," she adds.

The fashion world has long been blamed for a multitude of sins: eating disorders, the cult of thinness, an image of perfection that ordinary women can never obtain and of being too white.

Although Winnie's pigmented face is striking, she has the classic figure of a model -- five feet 10 inches (1.78 meters) with coltish limbs, chiselled cheekbones and a tiny waist.

A model with Downs Syndrome features in New York this week. Plus-size models are more common in magazines and New York Fashion Week has clamped down on harsh working conditions for child models.

Industry opening up

"Even the top models right now have a lot of personality and I feel like that's what people are looking for, you know, something they can relate to, a real person," says Winnie.

"So I feel like the industry is very much opening up, widening their eyes."

She describes Desigual as family.

"It was very organic, you know. They just met me, fell in love with me and they were like yep we're keeping you, you're ours now."

The label's signature bold patterns and bright colors suit her personality but at heart she is a sweatpants and sneakers kind of girl.

She doesn't dwell on bad things in the past and says her message to young girls is: "Focus on your opinion of yourself and not the opinion others have of you."

When she visited her old middle school she was mobbed. "A lot of the kids were like 'Oh my God, you're her, you're that girl!'"

She laughs again. She gives the impression of a homebody who loves to sleep and loves being coddled by her mom when she is home.

There she tucks into her mother's English breakfast of tea, beans, sausage or bacon, and runny eggs -- all protein -- and just the occasional piece of brown toast to dip into the eggs.

"The rest of the day I'll have like tonnes of spinach," she laughs. "But protein and vegetables, that's kind of my diet."

UN demands investigation into albino girl abduction

Tanzania must find an albino girl kidnapped in December, the country's top UN official said. At least 74 albinos have been murdered in the east African country since 2000 with only 10 convictions for the crime.

Deutsche Welle, 9 Jan 2015

"The government must conduct a full investigation into the matter and arrest the perpetrators," said UN country chief, Alvaro Rodriguez, after visiting the worst affected regions in northern Tanzania on Friday. He urged Tanzania to give the investigation the "highest priority" and expressed "outrage" at a series of attacks on albinos, whose body parts are sold for witchcraft.

"We'll do what we can in cooperation with the government to ensure that the girl is brought back," Rodriguez said.

Armed kidnappers seized four-year-old Pendo Emmanuelle Nundi on December 27 from her home in the northern Mwanza region. The police have since arrested 15 people, including the girl's father and two uncles. Police authorities have also given villagers five days to find the missing girl.

They abduct them, kill them and sell their body parts

Top local government official Magesa Mulongo visited the village appealing for more information on the kidnapped child. "The whole world now considers the villagers as having no heart," Mulongo said.

In August last year a UN rights expert warned that attacks against albinos were on the rise because Tanzania's October 2015 presidential election was on the horizon, encouraging political campaigners to turn to influential sorcerers for support.

The Tanzanian government's system of rounding up children with albinism in state-run education centers isn't adequately protecting them from widespread superstitious belief that human albino body parts will bring wealth and success, or cure disease. That's why kidnappers usually armed with machetes abduct albino children, kill them and sell their body parts for around $600 (with an entire corpse fetching $75,000).

1,400 people with albinism

People with the genetic condition, characterized by a lack of pigment in the skin, are often referred to as ghosts in Tanzania, or as "zero zero", which means someone who is less than human in the Swahili language. Witch doctors often lead brutal attacks to use albino body parts in potions they claim bring riches.

One out of every 1,400 citizens in Tanzania has albinism. By comparison, the global average is about one in 20,000 people, according to Canada-based albinism advocacy group Under the Same Sun.

jil/gb (AFP/AP)

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Tanzania bans witchdoctors in attempt to end albino killings - New
Four held in Tanzania over albino girl kidnapping

UN expert condemns 'appalling' abuse of Tanzania albinos

Yahoo – AFP, 26 Aug 2014

An albino child sits in a school in Mwanza, Tanzania, on January 28, 2009

(AFP Photo/Tony Karumba)

Geneva (AFP) - A UN expert Monday condemned the abuse of young albinos in government care centres in Tanzania, a country where many are killed and their body parts sold as lucky charms.

At least 74 albinos have been murdered in the east African country since 2000.

After a spike in killings in 2009, the government placed youngsters in children's homes in a desperate effort to defend them, Alicia Londono, of the UN human rights office, told reporters.

"It was a protective measure, and welcome at the beginning," said Londono, who has just returned from an inspection tour in Tanzania.

"But the conditions are appalling. They are overcrowded, hygiene conditions are very poor," she said.

"There are abuses going on in these centres, cases of sexual abuse," she added.

Out of Tanzania's 23 children's homes, 13 host albino youngsters, according to UN figures.

Londono said that all too often the children were forcibly removed from their families, and lose all contact with them.

"They are really a neglected population, they are not considered in many places as human beings," she explained.

Segregating albinos from the wider community was not the answer, she said.

But shutting the centre would put the children at the mercy of sorcerers and traffickers, she claimed. Instead, it was crucial to improve conditions in the centres, she said.

Londono noted that the perpetrators of crimes against albinos were rarely punished in Tanzania or in other countries in Africa's Great Lakes region.

A hereditary genetic condition which causes a total absence of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes, albinism affects one Tanzanian in 1,400, often as a result of inbreeding, said Londono.

In the West, it affects just one person in 20,000.

Londono warned that attacks were on the rise because Tanzania's October 2015 presidential election was on the horizon, encouraging political campaigners to turn to influential sorcerers for support.

Albino body parts sell for around $600 in Tanzania, with an entire corpse fetching $75,000, she said.

Related Article:

Tanzanian witch doctors arrested over albino killing

Tanzanian witch doctors arrested over albino killing

BBC News, 14 May 2014

Albinos in Tanzania have become targets for body-snatchers
seeking to sell them to witch doctors

Related Stories

• Albino models setting the trend for Africa
• Living in fear: Tanzania's albinos
• In hiding for exposing Tanzania witchdoctors

Two witch doctors in Tanzania have been arrested after a woman with albinism was hacked to death, police say.

One of her legs and several fingers were removed in the attack on Tuesday.

Albinos have suffered widespread persecution in Tanzania, where witch doctors say magic potions made with albino body parts can bring good luck.

Such killings have declined in recent years, but this latest attack has prompted a human rights group to call for all witch doctors to be banned.

At a press conference on Wednesday, the group, Under The Same Sun said the current regulation of witch doctors was clearly not working.

The BBC's Leonard Mubali in Dar es Salaam says that currently all witch doctors have to apply for a certificate from the ministry of health and welfare to practise.

The attack occurred in the village of Gasuma, in Simiyu province - a remote rural area in the north-west of the country where there have been killings of albinos before, our reporter says.

The woman's left leg, two fingers from her left hand and a nail from one of her thumbs were removed.

According to Under the Same Sun, which campaigns against the discrimination of people living with albinism, the last killing of an albino in Tanzania was in February 2013.

In recent years, the government has been also been trying to address the problem, and an albino MP was appointed several years ago.

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Angry, Snarly, Sad? YEAH! – 24 April 2012  (a message from Brenda Hoffman)

“… Even though parts of your physical being might shift a bit, the cellular structure shift we are discussing today will not become common knowledge for several years. The current human interior model required the study of thousands, if not millions, of humans. As is now true for those humans with achromatism (albino), the first Lightworkers will merely be noted as unusual.

Those of you at the forefront of the Lightworkers might be concerned that you will not receive adequate medical care because doctors will not understand the true you. Most doctors will not. But then, as your body shifts you will have less need of medical care. One of the important tools in your New Age kit is the regeneration of your physical body. Perhaps that concept seems like a fairy tale, yet you fully accept that starfish regenerate parts of themselves. …”

Albinos struggle for love

RNW, Anne Mireille Nzouankeu, Yaoundé,  3 January 2013

(Photo: Anne Mireille Nzouankeu)

Because they are “whites” born of black parents, albinos face discrimination every day and struggle to find love.

Every Sunday, a dozen albinos get together to sing in a neighbourhood of Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital. For them, singing is a form of therapy that helps them cope with the stigma they face. 

Nelly Kemezong

“I experience stigmatisation every single day of my life. When I take a taxi, at the market and in all public places, people give me strange looks. Some poke fun at me with phrases like: ‘the white girl with cat’s eyes’,” says Nelly Kemezong, a 24-year-old albino woman.

Curse

Emmanuel Koum, 29, explains that it's extremely difficult him to find a girlfriend: “I’ve met a few girls who told me that their families are against them dating an albino. In fact, in most families, the idea of anyone having an albino partner is hard to accept”, he says.

Emmanuel explains that “in some cultures, being albino is considered a bad omen or a curse. So people tend to believe that someone who gets married to or who even dates an albino will never be happy. The family will try to do everything they can to destroy the relationship.”

Not enterprising

What is most surprising is that albinos themselves practice discrimination against other albinos.

“I don’t want to marry an albino man. I’ve never loved one. Albino men are too soft, too passive and not enterprising enough”, Nelly explains.

“As an albino, I’ve had many problems both with my health and in my social life. If I marry another albino, our children will be albinos, and it will only add to these problems and perpetrate the albino race”, adds Sylvie Nana, another albino woman.

Albino rights office in Yaoundé

Emmanuel Koum who mentors many young albinos, says their lack of drive has psychological roots. “Some albinos anticipate the social stigmatisation and prefer not to fall in love to avoid disappointment”, he reveals.

No love life

Because of the stigma, very few young albinos manage to have a love life. Nelly has been in a relationship for the past few months. Her boyfriend is African and all is well. Emmanuel, on the other hand, is single like half of the young members of the singing group. 

His plea: “Albinism is not a curse. It’s only a biological anomaly. It doesn't affect a person’s emotions, abilities or intelligence. It only affects the colour of their skin. So let’s stop the stigmatisation and allow albinos to have a normal life like everyone else.”

Related Articles:

Angry, Snarly, Sad? YEAH! – 24 April 2012  (a message from Brenda Hoffman)

“… Even though parts of your physical being might shift a bit, the cellular structure shift we are discussing today will not become common knowledge for several years. The current human interior model required the study of thousands, if not millions, of humans. As is now true for those humans with achromatism (albino), the first Lightworkers will merely be noted as unusual.

Those of you at the forefront of the Lightworkers might be concerned that you will not receive adequate medical care because doctors will not understand the true you. Most doctors will not. But then, as your body shifts you will have less need of medical care. One of the important tools in your New Age kit is the regeneration of your physical body. Perhaps that concept seems like a fairy tale, yet you fully accept that starfish regenerate parts of themselves. …”

"THE NEXT 18 YEARS"–  Dec 2, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - New

(Subjects: You are looking  at a Quantum event, clearing a filter - Portal pineal , Higher self to step forward and communicate to You, Still remains in 3D but exposure to multi dimensions, Evolution of humanity, Intent, Mayan Calendar, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, 26.000 Years, Milky Way, Nostradamus, 1987, Beginning to a New Time, Channellers/Teachers, Center of Galaxy – Black hole, Bridge of Swords, Pleiadians, Children, Inventions – The discoveries (e.g. : Airplanes - Medicines – Radio .. ): These new Discoveries were given all over the planet when Human consciousness was ready for it. New Inventions are coming, the timing depends on how the middle East problems are solved, Biology reaction of quantum energy; new radio of the future, seeing quantum energy, when it is revealed all science books will have to be rewritten, This will be an AHA moment – be possible to communicate with the rest of Galaxy, NASA, Church/Religion will be effected the most by these discoveries, The quantum discovery will see the grid, life, gardens and will redefine life, DNA (3 billion pieces) evolving piece DNA are chancing, Gaia/Humanity are linked, new instruments will start to reveal the DNA variance, Evolution revealed: Autistic children have born with the removal of their 3D structure in the brain, Gaia/Spirit are testing these quantum beings  (Evolved DNA), Universe central clock = Rifs,  Globally there will be only 5 currencies, Wars on earth will be declared barbaric, Middle East, Global Unity, .. etc.) 

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Matthew preparing us for the Golden Age – Jan 19, 2012 - Essay on 2012 by Matthew (Channeller: Suzy Ward)

“..  Animals in the wild will instinctively know not to overpopulate and those that are   carnivorous will turn to the plant kingdom for sustenance.  The albinos being born in several animal species have both spiritual and transitional significance.  You associate white with peace, and these rarities that are appearing are symbolic of the coming changes in animal nature that will end the predator-prey food chain and restore the peaceable relationship that once existed among all species, including humankind.  The instances of unlikely cross-species friendships and even nurturing of the young from one species by mothers of another are more indications of Earth’s return to her original paradise self.  Still, an extremely important factor in this is the inspiration in many souls to be advocates for the animal kingdom and alleviate their manmade plight. …”

Rare encounter: Whale watchers off the Australian east coast were lucky
enough to see Migaloo, the famous albino humpback whale

Pink elephant is caught on camera

Rare white killer whale spotted off Russian coast

Whale watchers get world's closest encounter yet with Migaloo the albino humpback off the coast of Australia
The real-life Moby Dick: Incredibly rare WHITE humpback whale spotted off coast of Norway