African albinos

Here's a macabre story from today's New York Times about the current craze in African witchcraft: albinos have magical powers that can make you rich, so some people are hunting them to use their body parts in potions.

The story is from Tanzania, but superstition about albinos abounds and is widespread throughout Africa. The albino-skin-can-make-you-rich belief has spread to Kenya and D.R. Congo, and may have roots in Nigerian cinema.

There was one albino student in my Form 2 math class in The Cradle of Our Fathers. I remember that she was always sunburned and seemed cursed from birth just because she was born an albino in rural Central Africa. I hope she hasn't been made into a potion.