Several kids in Tanzania, who were attacked just for having a certain skin condition, were temporarily moved to the care of a U.S. charity, according to a report from the Associated Press.
One of them was five-year-old Baraka Cosmas Lusambo, who clearly remembered the ordeal that he went through.
"We were simply sleeping when someone just arrived," Baraka told the Associated Press. The boy further recalled that the people were armed with knives and torches.
All of these happened because Baraka has albinism, a condition that leaves affected people with little or no pigment in their skin, eyes and hair.
People reported that in traditional African communities, especially those practicing witchcraft, albino individuals were a precious commodity. It was thought that an albino's body parts would bring wealth, fortune and good luck. It could be sold for thousands of dollars in the black market to be used for potions.
Elissa Montanti, who had been moved by an article about Baraka, started to take action. She was the founder of the Global Medical Relief Fund, which started in 1997. The group helps children from crisis zones, who have lost limbs, get custom prostheses.
"I was horrified ... I just kept trying to find out how I could get to this boy," said Montanti to Silive.
Montanti contacted Under the Same Sun, a Canada-based group that advocates for and protects people with albinism in Tanzania. The group has been sheltering Baraka since his attack in March.
When Montanti asked what she could do, Under the Same Sun asked if she could help four more victims get prosthetics. She agreed and brought all of them to her charity home in Staten Island, New York.
They stayed there while undergoing the process of fitting and learning to use prostheses at Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia.
Once they receive their new limbs, they will return to safe houses in Tanzania, which are run by Under the Same Sun. Montanti's fund will bring them back to the U.S. to get new prostheses as they grow.
For Africa's hunted #albino children, new limbs and new hope | https://t.co/LGV4lFO7zc #Africa @GMRFChildren pic.twitter.com/s9HtMYkZ8C
— jaxdotcom (@jaxdotcom) August 18, 2015
"They're not getting their arm back," Montanti said to the Associated Press. "But they are getting something that is going to help them lead a productive life and be part of society and not be looked upon as a freak or that they are less than whole."
One out of every 15,000 people in Tanzania is affected by albinism, according to the U.N. Anyone with the condition is at risk, and people attacked once can be attacked again.
Witch doctors were outlawed by the government last year in hopes of stopping these attacks to albinos.
