“Tanzania” is a short story written by Jennifer Mbunabo. In this short story, it becomes apparent that albino people are treated quite brutally and inhumanely in Tanzania, and there is not much being done about it to this day.

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       Ten year old Dunia, who later changed her name to Tanzania, is an albino in Tanzania. Tanzania must stay in a shelter in order to survive, because albinos are brutally hunted down and killed in Tanzania, and their body parts are used for witchcraft. In this shelter she is being cared for by a lady whom she calls Miss Taylor. Miss Taylor becomes a sense of security in Tanzania’s life, and after hearing that she was leaving soon Tanzania questioned her own safety after her departure. Miss Taylor tells Tanzania that she and the other albinos will soon be transferred to a boarding school, which worries her because she fears that there will be a struggle to obtain food and that there will be too many rules. Tanzania hopes to one day be adopted by Miss Taylor and to move to America with her.

The brutal and inhumane treatment of the albinos in Tanzania is evident as Tanzania recalls her and other’s experiences. She tells the story of her best friend, Kanunge, who was butchered alive as a means of witchcraft, and that the people who murdered him chanted as he cried, saying “his cry would make his body parts potent”. Tanzania’s friends were not the only thing taken away from her--so was Tanzania’s childhood, which she illustrates saying, “I am not a child anymore. I have seen things that children should not see. My life has been in danger since I can remember. I have been running from one house to another, hiding in the bushes, protecting my life. I have even watched my friends die. After all these things they still think I’m a child”.

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      When concerning the brutal and inhuman treatment of albinos in Tanzania, not much is being done about it. A major reason for this is due to people being scared to intervene, often because they had family members who are albinos as well. This is shown in the story as Tanzania’s mother recalls the night that she was forced to watch her albino sister get raped and mutilated, and while the whole neighborhood heard their cries, “they were all afraid to help because many families had people like us with them”. In addition, it is often difficult for people such as Miss Taylor who desires to help them to intervene because they were often attacked, as Tanzania explains, “I heard that because of what Miss Taylor is doing, her life has been under attack, so she has security around her”. People like Miss Taylor are their only hope, considering that the Tanzanian government has done nothing significant to intervene nor protect them, which Tanzania illustrates, saying “I saw on the news that the government promised to set up a committee that will look into the matter. But I heard the news woman saying that many guilty witch doctors responsible for the deaths have not been prosecuted. So they are still roaming the streets looking for us to keep them in business”.

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       The brutal and inhumane treatment of albinos in Tanzania is still a serious problem to this day. On May 3,2021 a six year old albino boy was violently mutilated, and his body parts were most likely used for witchcraft (Under The Same Sun, 2021). This is still an ongoing problem, not only because there are not many people intervening, but also because people turn their faces to this problem, and therefore they are treated as if they have no voice. This is exemplified in the beginning of the story when the narrator explains that she changed her name from Dunia to Tanzania so that maybe the world would “hear her voice”.

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        The killing of albinos as a means of witchcraft is deeply rooted in Tanzania, which in turn makes it difficult for the Tanzanian government to persecute the killers since there are so many, which Tanzania explains, saying, “I saw on the news that the government promised to set up a committee that will look into the matter. But I heard the news woman saying that many guilty witch doctors responsible for the deaths have not been prosecuted. So they are still roaming the streets looking for us to keep them in business. The people here believe what the witch doctors say. They don’t see us as humans. Their words are laws or proclamations that govern the society”. Despite this reasoning, it still seems as if the Tanzanian government has turned their heads from this problem since the beginning, considering it was only on June 14 of 2021 that they pledged full protection of the albino people of Tanzania. Even now, their “protection” that they speak of is just basic human healthcare that they should have been getting along with every other human being (Xinhua, 2021). I have yet to see anything about them ensuring the safety of the albino people and giving the grieving families relief, or even attempting to.