Public Project
Cursed Skin
In Tanzania, where there is no official count, it is estimated that nearly 173,000 albinos occupy the region. The Tanzania Albino Society also known as TAS, is the largest association, they demonstrate against the police and court corruption, criminal enterprises and witchcraft. Recently Tanzania banned the practice of witchcraft.
It is necessary to continue fighting so that all these people are treated equally, regardless of differences in skin color, gender, race or religion.
Through these photographs I wanted to give a voice to these people, who in many cases have to live in constant fear hidden in houses or centers where they can get protection. Their struggle is the struggle for equality among all the people who make the world.
Before you reach the end of this year about 60 people have been killed with a panga, machete about 110 cm of blade used to clear the field. In remote villages, inaccessible or near Lake Victoria, a place for fishing and mining in East Africa. albinos have a triple sentence.
On one hand their social status is worse than of the lower castes of Indian. With poor access to education, no chance of getting a decent job, condemned to wander with a stigma, they are marginalized in society and of themselves. They are the perfect prey for gangs that know the price of each part of their bodies, hair, blood, flesh, bones, skin, used as ingredients to make the muti, . concoction used in black magic.
Forced by their health and their safety to live hidden. Anywhere enough dark can be a good place if you had the misfortune to be born albino in East Africa. Ironically, Al Shayma Kwegir, the first parliamentary albino in Tanzania, says the opposite. That she and the rest of albinos need to be seen and accepted. On the streets of Dar es Salaam, the situation is almost normal. Nothing special, apart from poverty and social exclusion. A law passed by the government prohibits denigrate albinos for their condition. But few people are called by their name. "Zero-zero", "ghosts" or "Money, Money", in relation to the large sums of money to pay for them mafia are the names most common. It and the suspicious looks. They are nothing to society.
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