I heard my albino daughter being hacked to death for her legs

Pain and suffering ... Mary's two remaining daughters

WAKING with a start, Mary Mathias watched in horror as a stranger burst through the darkness and thrust a machete to her husband's throat.
Pleading for him to be left unharmed, the mum-of-seven's thoughts quickly turned to their three vulnerable albino daughters sleeping in the room next door.

The sickening thuds from the other side of the wall made her blood run cold.

In recent years a wave of albino killings has swept Tanzania, fuelled by witch doctors who make potions from the body parts of people with the condition.

Living in fear ... Mary and her two remaining daughters


After the gang had fled, Mary's worst fears were confirmed - she found her beloved daughter Eunice, 14, lying dead in a pool of blood with both legs hacked off.

Mary says: "I was woken by a noise in the middle of the night.

"Two men ran into our room and held a machete to my husband's throat.

"They told him they'd kill him if he looked at them and made me lie still without a sound.

"A terrible noise was coming from the children's room.

"Eventually I got up and walked next door. I saw my daughter's legs were gone.

"I realised she was dead and I couldn't stop crying."

In less than a year, 50 albinos across Tanzania have been murdered for their body parts, shattering the country's image as one of the most liberal and stable in Africa.

Convictions have been few and far between, but earlier this month campaigners celebrated four men being sentenced to death for the murder of 50-year-old albino, Lyaku Willy.


‘ A terrible noise was coming from the children's room. I saw my daughter's legs were gone. I realised she was dead and I couldn't stop crying. ’
It was the first time sick body part traders had been brought to justice.

As authorities step up their fight against the racket, even family members have been discovered striking deals for body parts belonging to their own children.

Shockingly, cops investigating Eunice's death earlier this year believe it falls into this category.

Sobbing, Mary says: "My husband was arrested. He was charged with our daughter's murder and remains in custody to this day."

Unsurprisingly, Mary's other albino daughters are severely traumatised by their sister's killing, and live in fear that they'll be next.

Shida, 13, says: "People avoid us and tell us to keep away.

"They laugh and spit at us.

"I heard the sound of a machete chopping my sister.

"They said they'd kill me if I looked at them.

"The last thing I heard my sister say was 'God help me. I am dying'.

Paying respects ... Eunice's family at her unmarked grave


"I want to get away from here before we get ambushed by the albino killers. "We just want normal lives like anyone else." Albinos have inherited altered genes, which means they don't produce the usual amounts of the pigment, melanin. In the UK, one in 17,000 people is born with the condition, while in Tanzania the figure is among the highest in the world at one in 1,400. Although sufferers there have always faced discrimination, recent rumours of their magical properties have left them fighting for their lives.

Demand for albino body parts comes from various quarters including miners looking for help tracing gold and gems and fishermen who believe tying the milky white limbs to their nets will increase the catch.

Figures of £2,500 for an arm or leg are not uncommon. Mary says: "My first albino child, Semeni, was born in 1991. "People laughed at me and made fun of the baby.
‘ Every relative I have has deserted me because they disapprove of my albino children. It makes me angry - they are human beings, not dogs. ’
"The villagers were afraid she was going to bring bad luck on them all, but a child is a gift from God.

"The reason Eunice is underground is nothing more than evil men seeking wealth. "I hope Eunice's soul has gone to heaven. "We have no protection and no help from the village.

"Every relative I have has deserted me because they disapprove of my albino children.
"When I walk with them people look down on us.
"It makes me angry - they are human beings, not dogs.

"My kids live in great fear.

"Every evening I prepare their food but they cannot eat.

Hope is near ... Dr Brilliant helps the children

"They say, 'The night has come. Tonight we are going to die.'" Eunice's butchered body was laid to rest in a secret, unmarked grave. The local council also took the precaution of encasing her coffin in concrete to deter ghoulish robbers. As she stands over her daughter's burial place, Mary can't help but cry.

She says: "Eunice was a good child. It feels terrible to be standing at her grave side. "I would like it to be lovely like the other pretty graves. "It's sad to see her like that, encased in grey concrete."

The albino murders which began in Tanzania have now spread to neighbouring Congo and Burundi, where at least 12 victims have been butchered and their body parts stolen.

Because of the genetic defect that affects skin pigmentation, albinos suffer abnormally high rates of skin cancer and have ultra-sensitive eyes.

This leaves them even more vulnerable to attack and makes reading and writing extremely difficult.

Shida says: "I find it hard to open my eyes during the day.

"Outside I feel like I'm on fire.

"The sun burns my arms all over.

"I'd love to go to school and get an education. I wish I could read, but I can't."

Several charities are working to improve conditions for Tanzania's 270,000 albinos.


‘ The poor kids are subject to horrible sunburn and skin cancer and the light is so bright they have to squint. Darkness falls and they don't know if this is their last night ’
Among them is the Tanzanian Albino Society, which was established to fight the spread of witch doctors' beliefs in the vast country with a population of 40million.

The group is part-funded by the British organisation Action On Disability and Development.

Under The Same Sun is a local charity involved in promoting albino rights and supports Mtindo Primary School.

Here 100 albino children are safely educated behind towering barbed wire fences under the watchful eye of headteacher, Samuel Mluge.

Samuel says: "To be albinos like we are in Tanzania brings many problems.

"People with albinism have no jobs.

"Others don't believe they can grow and do something useful."

Professor Murray Brilliant from the University of Arizona is one of the world's leading experts in albinism.

Touched by Shida and Semeni's story, he recently travelled to Mwanza to try and secure their safety.

He says: "It really is a strange concept to hunt and kill people based on their skin colour.

"It's important to change the perception of people with albinism here because these are human lives.


"The poor kids are subject to horrible sunburn and skin cancer and the light is so bright they have to squint.

"Darkness falls and they don't know if this is their last night."

Fortunately for the Mathias sisters, Professor Brilliant helped get them a place at Samuel's albino school - and their future for now their future looks bright.

Shida says: "Now we are happy as we know we are not alone.

"If we get an education we can have a normal life."

Sadly the plight of thousands of other Tanzanian albinos continues, with the threat of death still bearing down like the scorching African sun.


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