Albino rights

Vandaag ontving ik een oproep van Amnesty International in mijn mailbox om op te komen voor albino's in Afrika, in het bijzonder in Malawi. Albino's zijn vaak in gevaar omdat aan hun haar of lichaamsdelen genezende en andere toverkrachten worden toegekend. Met mijn vorige huisgenoot/huurder Dauda Daramy uit Sierra Leone sprak ik vaak over dit onderwerp, omdat hij werkte aan een roman over een albino kindsoldaat in zijn land. De oproep van Amnesty, die ik ontving via de Amerikaanse progressieve evangelische beweging Sojourners, heb ik hieronder integraal gekopieerd. 

Amnesty International sent me this message today via Sojourners:

Annie Alfred is like any other child in Malawi. Her friends and family love her. She wants to be a nurse when she grows up.

But this 10-year old girl is in danger because some people think her body parts will make them rich, and they want to steal them.

Sign this petition to Malawi President Arthur Peter Mutharika demanding that his government protect Annie and others with albinism from murder.

Annie was born with albinism, an inherited condition that prevents her body from making enough color, or melanin, to protect her skin from the sun.

People call Annie "ghost" and "money," and want to steal her hair or - worse - her bones.

7,000 people in Malawi share Annie's condition, and they have nowhere safe to go.

Use your power to help Annie and others with albinism get the FULL protection of law.

Attacks on people with albinism have spiked in recent months.

That's why Amnesty International has included Annie's case in its annual Write for Rights campaign, the biggest grassroots human rights event in the world.

Your action today will help shine a light on this deadly practice, and protect the lives of people with albinism, who are under constant threat of violence and abuses of their human rights.