African Albinos

And I'm not talking about myself, though I have been told by some Africans that I am African on the inside.

Meeting a few representatives from the Society for the Albinos opened my eyes to a number of issues going on throughout the continent. Basically, albinos are not only often ostracized, but they are also being killed by middlemen of witch doctors, who believe certain albino body parts can be mixed into potions and make people rich.

Very sad.



Here is a video about social shunning of albinos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKn3dNAJ7j8

And here are a few articles about the killings:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7518049.stm
http://www.modernghana.com/news/207231/1/albino-killing-craze-stares-at-ghana.html

Sinapi Aba Trust

One of my favorite NGOs to visit was Sinapi Aba Trust. They are a microcredit group, and I was able to attend one of their solidarity meetings. It was fun to actually witness how they have to work together to cover each other in the event that a member of the group doesn't turn a profit, and how they are incentivized to help other's businesses succeed. I would have liked to interview them individually, but that didn't happen. It was a community affair - pretty much everybody showed up, they sang, prayed, and split into their groups. Really awesome crowd.

You can see Sinapi Aba's website here.