People born with albinism — a rare congenital condition that leads to a lack of pigment in the skin, hair, and eyes — can face a life frought with complications. Risks of blindness and skin cancer are high; children with albinism are often bullied or teased over their looks.
But in places like Tanzania, the challenges are unimaginable: discrimination, segregation, and even death. Local superstitions and traditions provoke attacks on people with albinism, whose limbs are used in witchcraft practices.
The public health and safety crisis for people with albinism in Tanzania has worsened in recent years, officials say. At least eight attacks were reported there between August 2014 and March 2015, according to the United Nations, with victims including a 1-year-old who was brutally killed and a 6-year-old whose hand was chopped off with a machete.
“These attacks are often stunningly vicious, with children, in particular, being targeted,” Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the then-United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said last year.
Photographer Patrick Gries first learned of this sad situation in 2010, after his family moved to Tanzania for his wife's post-doctoral research. A newspaper ran a story about a farmer who was attacked by a mob of people who cut off both of his arms and ran away as he bled. "The farmer's body parts were meant to be sold for witchcraft with this belief that albino body parts and limbs would bring luck," Gries said.
"I had never heard about such a thing," he said. "It was constantly in my mind. I tried to understand, but there is nothing to understand. It goes way beyond what we can imagine."
Gries began photographing the lives of the people with albinism he met and pored over research about the condition. The things he learned painted a dire picture. In addition to the threat of violence, people with albinism in Tanzania face a life of segregation and poverty. Many are denied basic rights — in life and death.
"These persons, for the most part, do not have any official civil status or legitimacy," he said. "They have not been registered at birth. Similarly, they do not die, rather, they 'vanish.' There are no graves of albinos in cemeteries — people would come and steal the bones."
A lack of education and resources can lead to an increased risk of death from skin cancer and other conditions. Gries experienced that firsthand, when his friend and assistant Mathew Mlolwa, a Tanzanian man with albinism, died of cancer early this year. He has dedicated his photo series, In/Visibility, to Mlolwa.
Ahead, his powerful photos and stories. For more on how you can help, visit Under The Same Sun, an advocacy organization that helped connect Gries with some of his photo subjects.
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Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect Refinery29's style guide on describing people with albinism.
"Kabula is a survivor. She had her right arm chopped off to the armpit with a machete. She survived while those criminals left her bleeding and ran with her limbs to be sold for witchcraft. Kabula has recently returned from New York, where she had a prosthetic arm replacing the limb that was cut off."
Kabula N. Masanga
Photo: Patrick Gries.
Attacks targeting people with albinism have "generated panic in the albino population and their close relations," Gries said. Some people, he said, "are 'in hiding' in their own homes; others have been sent to boarding facilities or ‘camps.'" While these facilities ostensibly protect the people, the approach has also "formalized their segregation."
Holo Kibishi
Photo: Patrick Gries.
"In essence, they find themselves living as refugees in their own country, without bearing the rights of an official refugee," Gries said.
Kefulazia Juma
Photo: Patrick Gries.
Many of Gries' photographs feature children who live in special shelters or schools. "Many of them were not educated and could not speak English," he said.
Kredo Samway and Pauline Ju
Photo: Patrick Gries.
In one shelter, Gries found 120 children "living in very bad conditions."
"When I started to photograph them, they all waited in line to have their portrait taken," he said. "It took me a day and a half to photograph every one of them and fill the papers with their names and information."
Shida and Semen Bahati
Photo: Patrick Gries.
People with albinism in Tanzania are often “considered a victim of evil or magical beliefs,” according to Gries. “His or her birth is often experienced as a curse,” he said.
Sophia Mwhlammedi
Photo: Patrick Gries.
Gries, who interviewed experts about the crisis after returning home from Tanzania, says the rise in attacks is connected to a gold mining boom that "brought with it an influx of miners in the quest of riches and sorcerers extolling the virtues of good fortune brought by the body parts and organs of albinos."
"What followed was a veritable manhunt, especially of children, in the rural areas," he said.
Mary Chalesy
Photo: Patrick Gries.
"While doing the portrait of an albino prostitute, I asked Jamila A. Mdimu, 'Do you think that your clients come with you thinking they would do it with a white woman?' She replied: 'I tell them that if they come with me, it will bring them luck!'"
Jamila A. Mdimu
Photo: Patrick Gries.
"The problem of albinism in Africa is not only a medical problem," he said. "It faces prejudice, old beliefs, and ignorance. A large effort needs to be done on education."
Mwanaidi Iddy
Photo: Patrick Gries.
Children with albinism also face serious health risks later in life. A high number die from skin cancer, in part because of a lack of education about proper skin care and precautions. "They are too poor to afford sunscreen, sunglasses, or hats," Gries said.
Gembe Sahi
Photo: Patrick Gries.
Gries sought to photograph of all the people with albinism he could find during his time in Tanzania. "The portraits were taken in various parts of the country, in places where there were groups of people, like the football club Albino United in Dar es Salaam, or in schools for the visually impaired, Tanga, in family shelters, in private schools, and the offices and homes of families and individuals around Dar es Salaam," he said.
Farida Mkwewa
Photo: Patrick Gries.
"In Tanzania, they are often dismissed and ignored. Thus, the albino is, in a way, transparent," Gries said. "There is a paradox to their visibility and invisibility: They are noticed for their obvious difference in appearance from the black African population, and yet socially, they are ghosts — Zeru Zeru. As they have no civic legitimacy, they do not exist."
Regina Matias
Photo: Patrick Gries.
"While taking pictures and talking with Monica J. Kwegyir, I was very intrigued by her red hair and makeup," Gries recalled. "During the conversation, I asked her if she was scared of going out when darkness comes in the evening. She replied, 'Oh no, the neighbors, they love me, they think I’m European.' (European means 'white people' in Tanzania). This is when I realized that for her, it was 'better' and 'safer' to appear as what she thinks a white woman looks like."
Monica John Kwegyir
Photo: Patrick Gries.
"The light is the same for all portraits," he said. "There are no shadows, no dramatization, and no set scenes. There is no styling; they were photographed wearing the clothes they had on at the time of our encounter."
Gracenner Kauishe
Photo: Patrick Gries.
Gries hopes awareness and better understanding of what albinism actually is can help improve the lives of people with the condition in Tanzania and other parts of Africa where similar attacks have been documented. "A white person with albinism will carry the same suffering with sensitive skin and bad eyesight. But in Europe or America, education, dermatology, and ophthalmology will help to live kind of a normal life," he said.
Regina Joseph
Photo: Patrick Gries.
"There is beauty in every one of those children," he said. "Look at Thando Hopa, the young albino model from South Africa who is also a lawyer. She could serve as a role model for those children to gain confidence and shine their beauty in a world of darkness. The problem is that you need to be aware of that, to be surrounded by people who care and love you, who tell you, 'You are the most beautiful girl or boy.'"
Ratifa Mussa
For more on how you can help, visit the Under The Same Sun website.
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