Albino
people in parts of Africa who are at risk of being butchered for their
body parts and raped as some believe them to be a cure for AIDS are
being protected in rescue centres.
People with the rare skin condition are persecuted in the belief their body parts can transmit magical powers, with others ostracising them thinking they are cursed and bring bad luck.
Photojournalist Ana Palacios, 43, visited a centre in Tanzania three times between 2012 and 2016 to find out more about the plight of albino people.
Ana said: "The Tanzanian government has found it necessary to set up special centres to protect people with albinism, who have fled their villages for fear of being butchered by traffickers who sell their limbs and organs to witch doctors to prepare their prized good luck potions."
"They are victims maimed by witch doctors to make potions, raped because they are considered able to cure AIDS and alienated by the society, because they are considered magical," she added.
On her first visit in 2012, Ana stayed at the Kabanga refuge with Spanish NGO AIPC Pandora, which is providing support to the albino community.
Around 200 people work the land, tend their gardens, make their own clothes, run community kitchens, canteens and classrooms, but this lively, happy village masks the centre's true purpose, which is to be a protective fortress.
The photographer said: "Genetic chance has made them exceptional beings and has brought them together here in order to survive.
"Many of them have had to flee from their homes for fear of being butchered simply for having albinism, others ended up here after being abandoned by their families, who were ashamed of them."
"A 'white' child is a stigma for the family," she added.
"They are cared for less, given less to eat and educated less.
"In some tribes albino children may be killed at birth, abandoned or offered for ritual sacrifice.
"It is hard for them to find a partner, since their condition as 'damned' beings scares others.
"Their own neighbours say that people with albinism do not die, they fade away, or that to touch one is to risk becoming white or falling ill."
The Tanzanian Albinism Society has an estimated 8,000 registered men, women and children with albinism, but it estimates Tanzania has a much larger population of albino people who are either unaware of the charity's work or choose to stay in hiding.
Ana believes that education is the only way to prevent the malicious prejudice they face.
People with the rare skin condition are persecuted in the belief their body parts can transmit magical powers, with others ostracising them thinking they are cursed and bring bad luck.
Photojournalist Ana Palacios, 43, visited a centre in Tanzania three times between 2012 and 2016 to find out more about the plight of albino people.
Ana said: "The Tanzanian government has found it necessary to set up special centres to protect people with albinism, who have fled their villages for fear of being butchered by traffickers who sell their limbs and organs to witch doctors to prepare their prized good luck potions."
"They are victims maimed by witch doctors to make potions, raped because they are considered able to cure AIDS and alienated by the society, because they are considered magical," she added.
On her first visit in 2012, Ana stayed at the Kabanga refuge with Spanish NGO AIPC Pandora, which is providing support to the albino community.
Around 200 people work the land, tend their gardens, make their own clothes, run community kitchens, canteens and classrooms, but this lively, happy village masks the centre's true purpose, which is to be a protective fortress.
The photographer said: "Genetic chance has made them exceptional beings and has brought them together here in order to survive.
"Many of them have had to flee from their homes for fear of being butchered simply for having albinism, others ended up here after being abandoned by their families, who were ashamed of them."
"A 'white' child is a stigma for the family," she added.
"They are cared for less, given less to eat and educated less.
"In some tribes albino children may be killed at birth, abandoned or offered for ritual sacrifice.
"It is hard for them to find a partner, since their condition as 'damned' beings scares others.
"Their own neighbours say that people with albinism do not die, they fade away, or that to touch one is to risk becoming white or falling ill."
The Tanzanian Albinism Society has an estimated 8,000 registered men, women and children with albinism, but it estimates Tanzania has a much larger population of albino people who are either unaware of the charity's work or choose to stay in hiding.
Ana believes that education is the only way to prevent the malicious prejudice they face.
Inside the Africa havens for albinos which protects them from being raped and butchered for money rituals
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