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How our story on albino children sparked questions on their future

Tuesday, 29 December 2015 12:23 GMT

* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Why did Tanzanian albino children fitted with prosthetics in the U.S. after being attacked at home have to go back?

I spent a day this fall meeting Tanzanian children being fitted in the United States with prosthetics after their limbs had been chopped off in brutal attacks in their homeland.

Their sweet dispositions and the cheerful way they colored pictures and kicked a soccer ball were remarkable, considering the cruelty they had known. And they were about to travel home, where people with albinism suffer lifetimes of discrimination, isolation, impoverishment and the threat of violence.

I found myself mentally picturing where I could add a bedroom to my tiny Manhattan apartment and adopt the shy girl, 15-year-old Pendo Noni.

The story I wrote about Pendo and three other Tanzanian albino children, which appeared on the Thomson Reuters Foundation website with heart-wrenching photographs, prompted similar responses from readers.

READ: Tanzanian albino children attacked for body parts to return home from U.S.

Why do these children have to go home, they wondered. Why can't they stay in the United States? Can't they be adopted? Can't they seek some sort of asylum?

Alas, the answers are not ones those readers want to hear.

The children cared for by the Global Medical Relief Fund in the United States had families in Tanzania. Yes, in some cases,  family members had been involved in their attacks, as body parts of albinos fetch money from witch doctors.

But they had other family members who loved them.

Besides, someone wanting to adopt a child from Tanzania must be a Tanzanian citizen or a resident for at least three years, according to the U.S. State Department.

The Global Medical Relief Fund, which helps injured or sick children, focuses on getting them treatment, said founder Elissa Montanti, although she admitted wishing she could have kept many of the children she has helped.

Under the Same Sun, a Canadian-based group that helps people with albinism, also does not get involved in adoption but concentrates on improving their living conditions, particularly through education, according to its website.

The website lists more than two dozen cases of people from Africa with albinism being granted asylum, primarily in France, but also in the United States, Ireland, Israel and elsewhere.

Albinism affects about one in 20,000 people worldwide who Melack pigment in their skin, hair and eyes. It is more common in sub-Saharan Africa and affects about one Tanzanian in 1,400.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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