Albino Witchcraft Murders Storyville

This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find disturbing.

I first met Josephat and Vedastus in 2006.

Josephat had dedicated his life to opposing

the discrimination against people with albinism.

Vedastus was a 14-year-old who had been bullied out of

his local school and rejected by his community.

Two months after I arrived in Tanzania,

a 35-year-old woman with albinism called Arif was killed.

Witchdoctors were spreading a belief that albino body parts could

bring wealth and good fortune.

People were prepared to pay large sums of money to anyone who

could get them.

Arif's murder marked the beginning of many more albino killings that

would sweep across Tanzania in the following years.

When a second person with albinism was murdered, Josephat told me

he was going to leave his family and travel across the country

to confront the communities where the killings had taken place.

Vedastus lives 600 miles away from Josephat, on a remote island called

Ukerewe, which has one of the highest instances

of albinism in East Africa.

People told me this prevalence was due to the minerals

in the island's soil.

Others believe, many years ago, mainland communities dumped

people with albinism onto Ukerewe to hide them from the outside world.

That summer, four more people were murdered

for their body parts in the lake region.

Veda's mother decided the island was now too dangerous for her son

and tried to get him transferred to a school on the mainland.

In 2008, hundreds of albino children were being placed into

special schools for their safety. Josephat decided to travel

to one of the schools in Northern Tanzania to speak with the children.

CHILDREN CHAT

By February 2009,

45 people with albinism had been murdered in Tanzania.

Most of these killings took place

in the lake region surrounding Ukerewe Island.

BAND PLAYS

SINGING STARTS

THEY BANG DESKS

Fearing the killings in the lake region could spread to the island,

Josephat travelled to Ukerewe to speak with the people there.

PHONE RINGS

In a western region of Tanzania,

communities have taken their own action to stop the killings.

In Kigoma, children and adults with albinism

were removed from their homes

and driven to a camp near the Burundi border.

By early 2010, there were very few people with albinism

living freely in their own villages.

FOGHORN BLASTS

GENERAL CHATTER

On March 24th, 2012,

three men entered a hotel room where Josephat was sleeping

and attempted to kidnap him.

Local police arrived moments later

and intervened as Josephat was being forced into a car.

I spoke to him shortly afterwards

and he told me he'd thought that this was the end.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd