Tanzania: Albinos in danger
- Posted on Tuesday 9 September 2008 - 14:51Jack Meena, AfricaNews reporter in Dar es Salam, Tanzania Photo: DaphIn Tanzania, Albinos - people having pale or colorless skin, eyes, and hair because the body does not produce enough pigment - are now an endangered species. Hardly a day passes without hearing of Albinos being brutally murdered and parts of their body missing.
It started as a hearsay but now it is beyond the imaginable. People are looking for a part of an Albino person. The reason for this is by no means mystery. The Sangomas (Jujumen) or whatever you call them have ill advised the meatheads who want to get rich quick without working are cracking an oyster to kill albinos. They believe that Albinos are rare human beings who don’t die. They have the feeling that a part of an Albino will make them rich like Bill Gate.
For this, the death is reported of an innocent Albino on a daily basis. Reported figures show that at least 100 Albinos have been killed in Tanzania in the past nine months. Sadly, the people in the community to which Albinos are a part know the culprits by names but are afraid and find it normal and therefore do not report them to the law enforcement agencies.
As I was listening to the news on Tuesday, another Albino has been killed in Kagera region for the same reason. I believe as I am penning this article another Albino is on the risk of being killed. Although the government and other concerned players have raised their voices, more is needed to reverse the situation.
In April this year, I visited Mwanza region on my way to Mara region (both regions are in the Lake Zone) and saw an Albino who was walking at a speed of light. Honestly, the boy was speedy and thought who ever came his way must have been sorry for himself. I could understand why he was speeding like that for safety. The old women and children are now key targets and the vultures are everywhere to snatch a part of them - alive or dead! Can you imagine? They could even chop a hand or an ear while one is walking!
Rumour has it that if you manage to get some of the private parts then you increase a chance of becoming a billionaire! Not by working hard but by killing an innocent Albino! This does not make sense in this era of civilization.
“We are not animals, and we are not ghosts! We are human beings just like any other human being, where should we run to for our lives now? People who are heartless are killing us, why this cruelty on us? Was it wrong to be born an Albino?” asks Joseph Toner, an Albino activist.
According to Joseph (himself an Albino) people in the communities were made to believe that Albinos are not normal human beings and therefore possess powers that could make one rich over night thus the killing. “Some people say that we don’t die, we simply vanish! Could you believe this?,” said Joseph.
The European Parliament has raised its concern and urged the Tanzanian government to take stern measures to bring into justice all those involved in these despicable acts. Myself, a journalist, a human right and animal welfare activist condemn the killings and call upon all individuals and groups to rally against such barbaric acts. This way, we will be able to protect our Albino brothers and sisters in Tanzania.
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- Posted on Friday 12 September 2008 20:44When I first heard of the statement that negative magical practices started somewhere in what is known as the Negative Magic Triangle along the Uganda-Tanganyika (Tanzinia) border, I was skeptical about it. But for the fact that the statement was made by an Africa Born-Saint, I would have quickly thought it as a White man's evil labeling of Africa. When I looked back at my childhood days in Uganda, I recalled the many times my mother and father used to tell us that there were many evil sorcerers all around us and speaking in whispers they would say: "Even if it is raining heavily never take shelter at so and so's homesteads. Those people are negative witchdoctors or those people are cannibals."
Back at schools where I went, I would hear fellow students telling of stories in their home villages, of cannibals or negative magicians and often, pointing out some students whose parents were cannibals. During those days students brought their lunch (food) from homes and we used to share with others. We would always be very careful to never share the food with students who were believed to come from homes of cannibals or negative sorcerers.
As and adult, I cannot remember how many true stories I have heard of cannibals and negative sorcerers, many of which have been printed in the print-media by journalists. I have heard of negative magic mainly in Uganda, Benin, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Ghana and in some other lands across the vast continent. Unfortunately, many of these negative magicians hide behind the occupation of healing; impersonating as healers. In addition, many of them are either Christians or Muslims; a fact that points out that these religions have not really done much to rid the poeple of the effects of negative and evil magical practices as many of these negative witches and their clients attend Churches and Mosques throughout Africa. This is not to say that there religions condone these evil practices. On the contrary, they just do not have the power to uproot this evil from their adherents because this evil has been entrenched in the peoples cultures and traditions for a long time since Spirituality was lost when the Great Wise Sages of divine wisdom left the continent, thousands of years ago. This is where the strict teachings of the Path of the Saints come in. Only these teachings and practices can weed out of Africa, the evils of negative magic. Africa needs a Bbandabulogo (Dispeller of Negative Magic) who must be a contemporary Perfect Soul-Liberator or Redeemer of souls.
On the other hand I have also seen and known many positive magicians or medicine men who are believed to be genuine and authentic healers. These genuine healers and traditional midwives (or birth attendants if you will) are many throughout the villages of Africa. Many Africans of my age (55) and above were not born in hospitals but in villages delivered by these Basawo, Sangomas oba Bavumuzi. I was only one of the few who were delivered in a western medical institution (Mityana Hospital) in Mubende District of Uganda.
To now read of this horrible practice going on in Tanzania, where our brothers the Albinos are being murdered for sacrificial or wealth-seeking individuals is outrageous. It is yet another confirmation of how much negative magic is entrenched throughout the continent and African governments do not seem to have a way out of these long time evil practices. The African Born-saint who first revealed to me and my colleagues of the Kiziba-Kannabulemu-Ssangobbi (Sango Bay) Traingle of negative magic explains that until Africa will embrace the divine spiritual teachings of all ages and climes, she will never achieve meaningful growth and development. He said that what Africa needs is the help of the Living Saints to dispell the evil curse of negative magic. When that is done, the continent will speed up the process of meaningful and lasting development and will retake her position of creative leadership in world affairs. (The said triangle geographically is located where negative magicians actually started in Africa and from where witchcraft spread across Africa and beyond),
Negative Magic manifests in innumerable ways and can be performed via many different channels by those who practice it. One of the major channels through which it is performed is the spilling of human and animal blood. Albinos are being murdered in Tanzania by cutting off parts of their bodies, especially the private parts, thus not only spilling their blood but also kill them. What for and how these parts are used is the secret of the evil witches.
Most evil magicians spread their practices through blood and animal flesh and this is one of the reasons why African ancient Bakalimagezi Abasengejje (Wise Sages) always advised their devotees to live a strict-lacto-vegetarian way of life. One of the signs of negative magic manifests in the manner in which many people behave when they hear of vegatarianism. If they are touched by evil magic or if they are negative sorcerers, they will be startled and restsless when you mention vegatarianism to them. They look bewildered because of the Ekitambo (evil spell of cannibalism) which feels threatened almost instantly at such a mention. This is why African myths and legends abound with stories of how vegetarians escaped death at the hands of Walumbe (The Negative Power) that used to manifest in such figures as Wazzike (the Chimpanzee) or Wamusota (The Serpent).
The sacrifice of living humans and animals by the spilling of their precious blood and eating their flesh is the basic channel for negative and evil magical practices. In the less apparent cases, evil magic manifests as un-controllable anger, jealousy, envy, hatred and uncontrollabe greed for material riches where individuals can go to the extent of obtaining wealth at any cost even if it is sacrificing fellow humans as is now the case with Albinos in Tanzania.
It is a pity that Africa is where she is but the good news is, Africa has paid off much of her collective karmic liabilities and now is the time for Africans themselves to take responsibility of innovation of their cultures, traditions and practices back to the Prime Law of the Human Race known to the ancients as [b]Kyenkola bannange ssaagala bakinkole, nga kibi (Do unto others as you have them do unto you). Africa badly needs the guidance and counseling of Perfect Living Masters who understand the depths of African cultures and traditions in order to dispell the evils therein. This means they must be Africans if Africa is to be truly emancipated from the clutches of the Negative Power. Unfortunately such Great beings are very rare to encounter. For, they live and travel incognito as Self-Concealed Beings! Even if they were to speak to you and tell you they were Living Saints you would rarely believe them! It is a paradox.
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