Albinos On The Razor-edge Of Danger

Chinedu Dike

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Chinedu Dike

Tuesday 24 June 2025

Albinos On The Razor-edge Of Danger

At the behest of witch doctors headhunters are on the prowl.

They're watching, waiting, stalking and avoiding detection,

in the hope of an ambush with a brutal ferocity.

Their bowie knives, and their gruesome machetes,

as sharp as a guillotine blade that is poised for execution,

certain to dismember any unfortunate victim

into chunks of bleeding flesh in a matter of seconds.

Faced with the looming menace many albinistic

persons are housebound in their homes,

swallowed up by anxiety and depression,

in a sustained state of fear for their own safety

and a deep sense of distrust for fellow beings.

But whenever compelled by a crucial necessity,

they would nervously venture out nonetheless.

Such unavoidable runs, risky as hell, can easily

deliver them into the grasps of the cruel fate.

The horrific butchering of persons with albinism

in some parts of Africa, with a single purpose

of harvesting their blood, internal organs,

and other body parts for sacrificial rituals,

has left so many of them revoltingly beheaded;

limps cut off; ears, breasts, and genitals sliced off;

hearts, kidneys, livers, and eyes gouged out —

while victims were still alive in many cases.

Some albinos are also known to have been

buried alive, as human-offerings, to appease

blood-thirsty deities or spirits. Even the ones

who are already deceased and interred are not

left to rest in peace, as their remains are being

dug up and robbed of hair, teeth and bones.

Myths have it that the blood, organs, and other

body parts of the albino can be used to harness

magical powers; that they are known to yield

powerful outcomes when used as ingredients

in preparing portions, charms or amulets, that

can bring riches, provide fortification against

harm, infuse extraordinary powers, or exorcise

ancestral wrath believed to be the root-cause of

the existential anxieties of those who use them.

In those African societies that seem full of myths

and witchcraft, the notion that albinistic people

are endowed with mystical powers is one that

is deeply entrenched in the public perception.

As old as generations this harmful superstition

is what, in recent years, increasing numbers of

sorcerers and criminal charlatans draw on to

trick people into the illusion of human sacrifice.

To validate the efficacy claims of such a weird

practice, these black magicians and con-artists,

who act as both traditional healers and holymen,

translate the existing legends and folklores

on potency of albino in dark magic into terms

that make sense to those who consult them.

Quite keen on making merchandise of persons

with albinism, the so-called witch doctors have

put a price on their heads — thus assigning

a commercial value to members of the group

in the eyes of predatory individuals, who are

lured into the clandestine trade in albinos

and their body parts to make quick money.

The tragic outcome of this bounty on albinos —

dead or alive, adults or children, is the rise of

criminal networks that revolve around witch

doctors, including scouters, body snatchers,

kidnappers, traffickers, killers, and others

who also play their part in sinister schemes

set up by the juju men to feather their nests

at the expense of their clients' murky motives.

The ritual murders of albinos in these societies

remain largely a crime driven by a boundless

quest to gratify out of reach gnawing-desires,

coupled with the widespread beliefs that such

sacrificial rituals work. These superstitions are

by no means limited to the chiefly uneducated,

poor masses, since so many of the clients who

patronize the greedy witch-doctors are people

of means from many different walks of life —

mostly those politicians and entrepreneurs

who believe that lucky talismans made from

albino body parts can make them win elections,

or usher in an era of boom in their business

ventures, by bewitching voters or prospects into

favouring their candidacies, goods or services.

This belief that people with albinism possess

special powers, that can bring success in just

about everything, is nothing short of lethal.

In the rural areas of some African countries

where everything that happens, whether

good or bad, is directly associated with the

intervention of the spirits, vicious onslaught

on albinistic persons appears to be rampant.

They are being hunted down and slaughtered

like animals by ritualistic criminals, who are all

linked to the trafficking networks contracted

or established by the traditional spirit healers

themselves to procure these 'commodities'.

Usually, based on the wishes of their clients,

the juju men will determine the body parts

needed to make a given type of potion, charm

amulet or talisman. Through the networks of

their criminal contacts, they will set in motion

a train of clandestine events which would

wind up either in severe maiming or murder

of ill-fated albino with an astonishing cruelty.

Homeless albinistic people, who used to roam

the streets and pathways of cities and villages

as beggers, bear the brunt of the brazen assaults.

With many of these exposed targets already

sent to their early graves; armed with knives,

machetes, and guns at times, human hunters

are now raiding secluded homes after sunset.

While at it they would forcefully abduct, or

kill and dismember their albino victims before

the eyes of their frequently injured and subdued

family members, who helplessly watch in horror

as human poachers make away with their trophies.

Most of these brutal attacks are against children,

not only because they are easier to abduct

but also due to a higher ritual value assigned

to their innocence, which is generally believed

to enhance the potency of ritual products.

In broad daylight albinistic kids are preyed on

while on their way to and from school.

Infants and toddlers are snatched away from

their mothers, who oftentimes have sustained

serous injuries in their brave but mostly futile

attempts to rescue crying babes from kidnappers.

Several cases have been recorded in which albino

mothers carrying their albino babes were

hacked to death and their bodies mutilated

alongside those of their murdered children.

Due to the misconception that albinistic women

and girls inhibit a cure for terminal diseases

including HIV and AIDS, they are as well being

targeted for ritual rape that sometimes result in

unwanted pregnancies or death of victims.

In those sub-Saharan African countries where

albinos amount to big money, their lives are

constant battles to evade bounty hunters.

Many of them have disappeared without a trace;

the remains of the ones who were later found

were recovered with some body parts missing —

depending on the kind of spell desired to be cast.

Some of the victims, who by a miraculous stroke

of luck survived from the almost certain death,

are left terribly disfigured and disabled for life.

In the most heartbreaking cases of hate crime

against albinos, they have often been abducted

and sold to trafficking networks by members of

their families such as fathers, uncles, partners,

or other relatives out of desperation for money.

In the East, Central and some parts of Southern

Africa, where black market exits for albinistic

persons and their body parts, they are being

trafficked within and across the porous borders

of countries of these neighbouring regions,

by the commercial trafficking networks hoping

that by selling a 'full set' of albino body parts

they can make money as high as 75,000 USD —

an immense fortune in these poor countries.

A living albino is said to be worth much more,

while single body parts such as arm, heart, or

head, can fetch several thousands of dollars.

These values make the underground trade in

albinos one of the most profitable and grisly

forms of human trafficking around the globe.

Ironically, in these improvished societies where

individuals with albinism are believed to be

a source of good fortune, they are at the same

time being demonized and also being targeted

for violent attacks because they are presumed

to be cursed beyond their 'ghostly' appearance.

Widely perceived as a haunted group of people

who are bearers of badlucks, albinistic persons,

as often as not, are being blamed for the outbreaks

of epidemic diseases, locust invasions, droughts,

floods, hurricanes, and other natural hazards

whose occurances are due to climatic factors.

It is this dehumanisation of the people living

with albinism that provides the rationale for

their stigmatization, making it all too easy to

justify all manner of prosecutions against them.

Albinos are the objects of emotional, verbal

and psychological abuse, often followed up

with the physical assaults they have to endure

in societies that would rather be without them.

This irrational hatred for people with albinism

implies that even the heinous crimes that are

being committed against them are largely met

by the callous indifference of their community

members, and not in any way deterred by the

erring inaction of the law enforcement officials —

many of who feel the same disdain for albinos.

Perhaps the worst act of betrayal many albinos

have to contend with is that from their blood

relatives who look at them as cosmic retribution.

Almost always the initial reaction to the birth of

a baby with a pale skin is one of shock disbelief

and humiliation from parents and close relatives.

Parents feel ashamed of their babies and fear

the social impacts of the unexpected birth.

Because such infants are believed to be potential

sources of calamities, they are at times banished,

abandoned, or killed after birth by their families

in an effort to root out the imagined threats.

In some places, even when close relatives are

fond of their albinistic baby, they can be forced

by their community members to give up the

infant for ritualistic killing as impelled by custom.

Because of widespread misapprehensions about

albinism and the patriarchal nature of most

African societies, as is the custom women are

the ones being blamed for giving birth to albino.

The accusation gets worse in families who

before the unusual birth had no albinistic

individuals in their traceable ancestries.

Cases abound of female spouses who have

been subjected to domestic violence, jilted, or

chased away by their husbands and in-laws —

who are convinced that such 'miscreant wives'

were accosted or had been unfaithful to have

delivered for them a baby with a pale skin.

Sometimes, though, there were accounts where

men accepted their baby and offered support.

This rejection of mothers and their albinistic

babies due to cultural taboos leaves them

exposed to increased levels of poverty, isolation,

and abuse in their communities, since no men

are there to protect them as their very own.

Historically, people with albinism seldom find

suitable, pigmented partners to date or marry.

Notwithstanding family objections against such

an 'unholy union', some, out of genuine love,

still go ahead to marry their albino sweethearts.

By defiling the odds to tie the knots, the albino

female spouses in particular often come face

to face with malicious, whispering campaigns

or direct accusation of witchcraft against them.

Because albinos are believed to be inhabited

by evil spirits that enable them to cause harm

to people and things, often their kit and kin

would blame them for having a hand in the

illness, untimely death, or any other forms

of misfortunes that may have befallen them.

Both as mothers of albinistic kids and mothers

who themselves have albinism, these sets of

women, who are badly impacted by the disorder,

often face such baseless but serious allegations

in many communities — where a claim that one

has bewitched another is usually enough for

banishment or lynching of the accused to occur.

Being the common pariah of the African societies

albinos are on the receiving end of social snub.

On daily basis, they face deprecating stares and

harassment from the public wherever they go.

Quite often, they are denied entry or kicked out

of shops, restaurants, taverns, hotels, saloons

and other such public places by the owners.

As one would expect under these dire circumstances,

businesses set up by albinos hardly ever succeed.

For the same reason of albinos being bad omens,

families who have such a member struggle to

find housing to rent, and tenants who welcome

an albinistic baby face eviction by their landlords.

Denial of access to public transport adds another

layer of challenge for albinos: in some places,

many buses and taxis do not stop to pick them up.

Even in places of worship like shrines, mosques,

temples and churches, where one would expect

to find comfort in the midst of prosecution

and isolation, albinos are as well being treated

as outcasts on the basis of their skin colour.

Surprisingly, the ugly stereotyping and prejudice

against albinistic individuals are also common

in the healthcare setting. Because numerous

healthcare providers are biologically naive

about the natural causes of albinism, day in

day out they blatantly violate albinos' right

to life and dignity. Even in hospitals or clinics

where the medical personnel are reasonably

informed about the true nature of albinism,

this knowledge runs parallel with the harmful

superstitions that border on witchcraft — since

these health workers are products of society.

Their negative attitudes towards albinos are

clearly visible in their verbal abuses and their

reluctance to attend to albinistic patients,

not to mention their often unjustified denial

of medical treatment to members of the group.

Because of the ill-founded belief that albinism

can be transmitted to a foetus in the womb —

if a pregnant woman and an albino came into

a close proximity to each other, expectant

mothers who have the disorder are often

prevented from integrating at maternity homes.

Due to the fear induced by the cultural taboos

surrounding albinism, medical assistants and

nurses often refuse to touch, weigh, dress,

or carry albinistic babies in the delivery room,

thus abandoning their weak and exhausted

mothers to manage on their own after labour.

In no small measure this systematic exclusion

of albinistic individuals from proper medical

attention contributes to a very high incidence

of skin cancer among albinos living in Africa.

The legends associated with albinism in africa

have a negative impact on the lives of people

with the birth defect, from the moment of their

birth until their death. They grow up feeling

bad about themselves and, constantly, they

walk on eggshells always struggling to fit in

and be accepted in societies that are very

hostile towards them. Due to the high level

of illiteracy on the continent most albinos

do not know why they were 'born too light',

neither do their mothers who had either

given birth to them at home, or in a maternity

clinic where they had been hastily discharged

with no form of counselling received after birth.

Scientifically proven to be of genetic origin,

albinism is a partial or total lack of melanin

pigment responsible for tanning the skin and

for giving the eyes and hair their colouration.

For a child to be burn with the condition both

parents must carry the gene that transmits

albinism for it to be passed on, regardless of

whether they themselves are albinos or not.

Albinism is found in all ethnicities and races

around the globe and within the animal world.

The absence or insufficient supply of melanin,

a substance that also protects the skin cells

against harmful ultraviolet rays, implies that

those living with the disorder are prone to

developing sunburn, blisters, and skin cancer.

Due to an elevated sensitivity to glare which

reduces their range of sight, albinos have a blurry

vision of things around them and experience life

in a state of 'partial blindness' without glasses.

People with the congenital oddity experience

various forms of bias against them, in differing

degrees of harshness by nations, worldwide.

In the western world, where they are better off

and often go unnoticed due to their close

outward form with that of the general public,

discrimination against them is mostly based on

their poor eyesight. A typical example would

be the refusal of driving licence to members of

the group in some of these advanced nations.

Discounting that, individuals living with the

condition in these deveoped countries are well

integrated into the main stream societies —

where state-support systems are in place

to assist them in those aspects of their lives

that pose challenges to their lifelong disability.

As a result, albinos in the western world are

able to go after their dreams and aspirations.

Being as healthy as everyone else they lead

meaning full lives with the normal live spans,

having adapted quite well to their disabilities.

On the contrary, in Africa, where anti-albinism

runs deep, the stripping of albinistic people of

their humanity virtually affects every aspect

of their lives. So many of them, for example,

have been denied access to education because

they are generally thought to be dullards and

inept beings who cannot cope in school or in jobs —

hence a waste of their families' merge resources.

This false impression stems from their usually

poor academic records and high dropout rates.

Far from being unintelligent group of people,

African albinos can be as talented as everyone

else; their dismal scholastic achievement is

mainly due to the various barriers that militate

against their educational progress such as

ill-suited learning environment, the dearth of

teaching provisions, and their inability to access

optical aids for the enhancement of their eyesight.

On top of everything, stake holders in education

sector including policy makers, administrators,

school authorities and teachers, who are largely

uninitiated about the learning needs of albinistic

pupils, pay no attention to the visual problems

the learners face in class without contact lenses

by not offering to them extra help nor support.

Because most albinistic children are afflicted with

rapid eye movements that make letters of texts

become shaky, the unavailability of textbooks

with enlarged prints means that they are unable

to see clearly what they are reading or writing.

In addition to that, the fact that such learners

are not given the privilege of sitting in positions

where they can see best in classrooms puts a

further strain on their vision of the chalkboard.

The school experience of albinos are worsened

by stigma which paves way for their isolation,

ridicule and bullying, that come from teachers,

schoolmates and, especially, their classmates

many of who do not want sit next to them.

With only a few willing to befriend them or

shoulder the burden of being their teachers,

albinistic learners are left feeling inadequate,

lonely and alienated in school. This situation

not only frustrates them, it also affects their

self-confidence and academic performance.

These difﬁculties, along with the problem of

albinos being abducted from schools for ritual

purposes, are mainly the reasons why most

of them end up as primary school dropouts.

This lack of education means that a massive

majority of people with albinism are qualified

only for menial jobs, in which they often have

to work outdoors without sufficient protection

against cancer-causing rays of the scorching sun —

their 'silent' and number one killer in Africa.

Through a brutal discrimination that deprives

them of the economic tools and social skills

that are needed to live productives lives,

the albinistic people, already restricted in their

job choices due to a low tolerance for the

sun’s harmful radiation, are left hopelessly

jobless and miserably consigned to poverty

with no means of sustenance whatsoever.

Only a negligible fraction of them living mostly

in the cities are able to access health checks,

with countless number of others unable to afford

simple remedies like sun-protective garments,

sunscreen creams, sunglasses, wide-brimmed

hats and umbrellas — all collectively vital for

them to live healthy lives in the sunny continent.

With these life-saving means out of the reach

of most, and the fact that little or no guidelines

exist about skin cancer risks and prevention,

an overwhelming majority of albinos living in

Africa die prematurely before the age of forty

due to skin cancer, according to estimates.

While people with albinism once had to only

avoid the blazing African sun and the bullying

they have to stomach in their communities,

they have in recent times withdrawn into their

homes in the face of more frightening threats:

of sexual violence, abduction, horrifying death,

and mutilation of their bodies by ritualistic killers.

But even there, in their homes, they aren’t safe.

Clearly trapped in the dark side of magical belief,

albinos pay the price for superstition in Africa.

Theirs is a life on the razor-edge of danger.

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