US doctors help Tanzanian children harmed in albino attacks
Jun 19, 2015, 10:38 AM
Baraka Cosmas Rusambo, 6 years old with albinism from Tanzania, is treated at Global Medical Relief Fund and Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 17, 2015. In March, assailants lopped off the right hand of Rusambo. Tanzanians subscribing to superstition see those with albino complexions as demons or ghosts with mystical powers whose body parts are cut off and used in witchcraft and potions. (Alejandro A. Alvarez/Philadelphia Daily News via AP) THE EVENING BULLETIN OUT, TV OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALESn
(Alejandro A. Alvarez/Philadelphia Daily News via AP)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Five Tanzanian children attacked and robbed of limbs because they are albino are being outfitted with prosthetics at a Philadelphia hospital.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that New York City-based Global Medical Relief Fund connected the children, ages 6 to 16, with prosthetic specialists at Shriners Hospital.
Hundreds of albinos have been attacked in Africa since 1998.
Tanzanians subscribing to superstition see them as demons or ghosts with mystical powers whose body parts are used in witchcraft and potions. Last year, Tanzanian authorities outlawed practices that used albino body parts, making it a crime punishable by death.
On Wednesday, doctors measured the height, weight and blood pressure of the children and planned out how the prosthetics would be fitted.
The children will remain in the U.S. until receiving the prosthetics.
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