The Predicament Facing People with Albinism : Turning on the Truly Sight in Tanzania

Buhori , Johnas and Mzungu , Jeddy (2015) The Predicament Facing People with Albinism : Turning on the Truly Sight in Tanzania. The Professional Symposium in Iringa from the 3Oth – 31st July 2015. pp. 1-18. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

For many years people with albinism have been experiencing dehumanization practices from the community members. These practices are rooted basically from different myths, false believes, inadequate education on albinism and its etiology, and superstitious. These practices end upvictimizing people with albinism. Looking for instance, the way people with albinism are named in Swahili “zeru-zeru”. It is these historical perceptions that continue to jeopardize the basic human rights for people with albinism. Many community members do not understand the genetic factors which lead to albinism. Actually, in many societies, there are different kind of believes about people with albinism. For instance, in many community of Tanzania, there is a common myth which says “people with albinism do not die, but at a certain stage in life, they disappear”. A myth or believe as this, shows how people with albinism have been hunted, killed and mutilated for many years. It is very important to note that, for all those years, the Tanzanian

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