Albino Child in Tanzania
Elias Stariko (L) sits next to wife Farida Bwire, as he holds their son at the Golden Valley English Medium School, a school sponsored by Under the Same Sun (UTSS), in Geita November 24, 2011. UTSS is a Canadian non-profilt organization that sponsors more than 300 pupils with albinism from Tanzania. Reuters/Emmanuel Kwitema

Five Tanzanian children who are albinos, or who have white skins due to a medical condition, were given new leases in life with their temporary move to the US in summer. It was not only a chance to have a better life that came but also new limbs.

The five – Emmanuel Rutema, Kabula Masanja, Pendo Noni, Baraka Lusambo and Mwigulu Magesa – suffered from dismemberment of limbs in their native land. It is because of a belief in parts of Africa that their white skin has magical powers, explains Mashable.

Because of that belief, the homes of these children and other Tanzanian albinos are broken and the arms or feet at severed. These limbs are sold to witch doctors who make potions out of those stolen body parts.

The five, who were fitted with new prosthetic limbs care of the Global Medical Relief Fund that brought them to the charity’s house on States Island, are lucky because other albino kids in Tanzania have been killed for their skin. One such child was Yohana Bahati who was abducted on Feb 14 and killed. He was seized from his mother by an armed gang. After three days, Yohana’s dismembered body was , minus legs and arms, at the Biharamulo Forest Reserve.

Albino limbs sell for $75,000 on the black market, which explains why since 2000, about 75 albino kids have been killed in Tanzania. To spare their future children from that cruel fate, some adult albinos sell bodies to gangs.

There are about 20,000 people around the world with the congenital ailment, unfortunately, a lot of them live in sub-Saharan nations where people believe in the powers of a white skin. In Tanzania, one in every 1,400 is an albino.

Fifteen-year-old Noni and 5-year-old Lusambo had their fitting of prosthetic limbs on July 23 at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, according to Associated Press. They are still getting used to their limbs, but after they learn how to properly use their prosthetic arms and legs, the five will return to Tanzania, not to their homes where their remaining real limbs are still at risk, but at safe houses.

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