For those not in the know, albinos are human beings - humans with little to no melanin in the layers of their skin. As a result, persons with albinism have very white skin that usually burns easily. In addition, albinos tend to have very light colored hair and light blue eyes. They're pretty easy to spot in a crowd, and I imagine even easier in an area populated mostly by darker skinned individuals. Not only does melanin act as a darkening pigment for most skin, it also acts as a defense against harmful UV radiation. As you might imagine, persons with albinism get sunburned very quickly and often suffer tremendous pain as a result. The constant threat of skin cancer is just one of the health issues every albino has to live with. Albinism is natural and exists among many animal species. As if living in Africa with albinism were not bad enough, like I said apparently there is a trade in the exchange of albino body parts. We're talking about hacking albinos into pieces and selling their body parts to those who believe they bring good luck. Of course it is irresponsible to blame the entire populations of both countries for the maniacal acts of a handful of their citizens. And arrests have been made (although as far as I know at this point, charges still have not been filed). But give me a break - in this day and age, you mean to tell me that there are still some people somewhere who believe in this? And that they're actually willing to go as far as literally chopping up another human being into pieces and selling those pieces - and that there are actually people out there who would buy them? EPIC WTF???? Why does this issue hit me hard? A couple of reasons I guess - for starters I can't stand to see members of any minority group persecuted simply because they are different. For me, this is an almost visceral feeling. I can try to explain how I feel, using terms such as "unfair" and "just plain wrong", but that doesn't work effectively for me. This is a feeling that just seems to occupy every fiber and molecule of my being - it quite frankly just pis**s me off to the very core. I guess this is one of those things I can "feel" better than I can "tell".
I also feel I have a bit of a personal stake in this. I'm not sure if anyone knows this or not, but yours truly has a skin condition known as vitiligo. Vitiligo is the partial loss of melanin in the skin. IOW, my skin is dark in some places, light-to-white in others. And when I say "white", I mean albino-white. I don't cover it up - basically I don't care what anyone thinks or says about it if they notice. My vitiligo is something that I came to terms with a long time ago (get a few beers in me and I can tell you some stories). When I was younger I would tan like nobody's business in my "normal" areas - but my white areas would burn pretty badly if I didn't protect them. T
he joke most summers was that I would soon be entering my "Neapolitan" stage - chocolate (brown skin), vanilla (white skin), and strawberry (slightly burned pink skin).
he joke most summers was that I would soon be entering my "Neapolitan" stage - chocolate (brown skin), vanilla (white skin), and strawberry (slightly burned pink skin). In a sense I've always felt some attachment to the albino community as a result - even though my hair is dark and my eyes are brown. I've known several albinos in the past and I still consider them my friends, so when I hear something like this it gets to me. When I hear what is specifically happening and the subsequent "fleeing for your life" thing as a result, it really makes me mad.
Like this kind of mad So I've decided that when I am in Tanzania I want to learn more about this and I want to see what I can do to help stop this madness as much as I can. Hopefully I'll be able to post updates about it here. I can say one thing with complete honesty - if on the freak chance that someone comes after me for my body parts... f*ck that sh*t. I'll douse myself with gasoline and set myself on fire before I let that happen.
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