Albino Witchcraft Murders

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0:00:04 > 0:00:07This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find disturbing.

0:02:18 > 0:02:23I first met Josephat and Vedastus in 2006.

0:02:23 > 0:02:25Josephat had dedicated his life to opposing

0:02:25 > 0:02:29the discrimination against people with albinism.

0:02:29 > 0:02:31Vedastus was a 14-year-old who had been bullied out of

0:02:31 > 0:02:33his local school and rejected by his community.

0:02:35 > 0:02:38Two months after I arrived in Tanzania,

0:02:38 > 0:02:41a 35-year-old woman with albinism called Arif was killed.

0:02:41 > 0:02:44Witchdoctors were spreading a belief that albino body parts could

0:02:44 > 0:02:46bring wealth and good fortune.

0:02:46 > 0:02:49People were prepared to pay large sums of money to anyone who

0:02:49 > 0:02:52could get them.

0:02:52 > 0:02:55Arif's murder marked the beginning of many more albino killings that

0:02:55 > 0:02:58would sweep across Tanzania in the following years.

0:04:14 > 0:04:18When a second person with albinism was murdered, Josephat told me

0:04:18 > 0:04:21he was going to leave his family and travel across the country

0:04:21 > 0:04:25to confront the communities where the killings had taken place.

0:06:27 > 0:06:32Vedastus lives 600 miles away from Josephat, on a remote island called

0:06:32 > 0:06:34Ukerewe, which has one of the highest instances

0:06:34 > 0:06:37of albinism in East Africa.

0:06:37 > 0:06:40People told me this prevalence was due to the minerals

0:06:40 > 0:06:42in the island's soil.

0:06:42 > 0:06:45Others believe, many years ago, mainland communities dumped

0:06:45 > 0:06:50people with albinism onto Ukerewe to hide them from the outside world.

0:11:38 > 0:11:41That summer, four more people were murdered

0:11:41 > 0:11:43for their body parts in the lake region.

0:11:43 > 0:11:48Veda's mother decided the island was now too dangerous for her son

0:11:48 > 0:11:50and tried to get him transferred to a school on the mainland.

0:14:42 > 0:14:46In 2008, hundreds of albino children were being placed into

0:14:46 > 0:14:49special schools for their safety. Josephat decided to travel

0:14:49 > 0:14:53to one of the schools in Northern Tanzania to speak with the children.

0:22:16 > 0:22:19CHILDREN CHAT

0:23:43 > 0:23:45By February 2009,

0:23:45 > 0:23:4945 people with albinism had been murdered in Tanzania.

0:23:49 > 0:23:51Most of these killings took place

0:23:51 > 0:23:54in the lake region surrounding Ukerewe Island.

0:28:03 > 0:28:05BAND PLAYS

0:28:30 > 0:28:32SINGING STARTS

0:29:58 > 0:29:59THEY BANG DESKS

0:34:40 > 0:34:44Fearing the killings in the lake region could spread to the island,

0:34:44 > 0:34:48Josephat travelled to Ukerewe to speak with the people there.

0:44:14 > 0:44:17PHONE RINGS

0:44:56 > 0:44:58In a western region of Tanzania,

0:44:58 > 0:45:02communities have taken their own action to stop the killings.

0:45:02 > 0:45:04In Kigoma, children and adults with albinism

0:45:04 > 0:45:06were removed from their homes

0:45:06 > 0:45:09and driven to a camp near the Burundi border.

0:45:09 > 0:45:12By early 2010, there were very few people with albinism

0:45:12 > 0:45:14living freely in their own villages.

0:53:10 > 0:53:12FOGHORN BLASTS

0:53:17 > 0:53:20GENERAL CHATTER

0:56:52 > 0:56:55On March 24th, 2012,

0:56:55 > 0:56:57three men entered a hotel room where Josephat was sleeping

0:56:57 > 0:57:00and attempted to kidnap him.

0:57:01 > 0:57:04Local police arrived moments later

0:57:04 > 0:57:07and intervened as Josephat was being forced into a car.

0:57:08 > 0:57:10I spoke to him shortly afterwards

0:57:10 > 0:57:13and he told me he'd thought that this was the end.

0:58:49 > 0:58:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd