How does a three year-old child, with no passport, visa or
other documentation cross two international borders? A child with albinism has been stolen -- or sold – and no
one has any information.
Dr. Pius Kamau, a surgeon from Colorado was traveling in his
native Kenya when he witnessed a bizarre incident. Three men were arguing with a Kenyan Airways attendant in
the Nairobi airport. They were
trying to board a plane to Burkina Faso, clutching a sleepy boy with albinism. The men were belligerent because the
attendant was questioning their right to travel from Tanzania with a child for whom they had
no documentation. In a world of
TSA body scans, barefoot security lines and multiple checkpoints, it seems
impossible that one could travel with an undocumented child.
However, the rules are different for children with
albinism. The men bullied their
way onto the flight to Burkina Faso, effectively sidestepping regulations in Tanzania
and Kenya. How could this
happen?
It could happen because, as Dr. Kamau noted, children with
albinism in East Africa are the children of a lesser god. Many in East Africa view albinism as a curse, and the body
parts of people with albinism are sold on a gruesome black market. Witch doctors claim to be able to make
potions from the body parts to confer wealth or luck. According to Under the Same Sun, there have been 78 murders
of people with albinism in Tanzania alone, and an additional 21 non-fatal attacks.
Where were the child’s parents? Why hasn’t anyone reported the abduction? Why would
Tanzanian officials even let them out of the country? Dr. Kamau and others have
made calls to the airlines, government officials and the Tanzanian Embassy – all to
no avail. No one seems to be
willing to talk about a three year-old child, perhaps stolen away to a terrible fate.
As a parent, it is incomprehensible to me that a child
can just vanish, and that no family is stepping up to ask questions. I am also the mother of two children
with albinism, which makes this personally haunting. It may be that there is an acceptable explanation as to what
happened. If that is true, why is
the airline refusing to answer questions?
I fear that this child has been lost to a culture of cruelty
and ignorance, where albinism renders one less than human. Two years ago, I founded an
organization dedicated to helping people with albinism in East Africa called
Asante Mariamu. I will be
traveling to Tanzania in three weeks with several friends to work at a school
that is home to over 70 children with albinism. I will look for answers in the faces of the people I
meet, and continue to work to change the perception about albinism all over the
world. All children with albinism
– mine included – deserve this very basic human dignity.
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