Emmanuel Festo Rutema from Tanzania poses for a portrait in New York during his recovery from an attack by witch doctors (Picture: REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)

This little boy’s arm and fingers were removed in a brutal attack by those who see his limbs as a good luck charm.

The limbs of albinos like Emmanuel Festo Rutema, 13, are valuable commodities in Tanzinia.

And if the victim screams mid-amputation the body part’s power is thought to be greater.

Ahead of this year’s election in Tanzania, the United Nations fears attacks will become more common as politicians seek tokens of good luck.


Mwigulu Matonage Magesa, left, and Emmanuel, right, put on their prosthetic arms as Baraka Cosmas Lusambo, centre, looks on (Picture: REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)

Albinism is a congenital disorder that affects one in 20,000 worldwide and involves a lack of skin, hair and eye pigmentation.

It is far more common in sub-Saharan Africa and affects about one in 1,400 Tanzinians – though many there believe albinos are ghosts that bring back luck.



Emmanuel’s attackers, wielding machetes and hammers, chopped off his arm and the fingers on his other hand before trying to extract his tongue and teeth.

He spent five months recovering and now has a severe speech impediment.

Emmanuel, whose fingers on his remaining arm are missing, eats an orange during homework (Picture: REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)

Emmanuel is not alone.Twelve-year-old victim Mwigulu Magesa, who is missing an arm, plans to become president one day bring justice to those who commit these heinous crimes.

He said through an interpreter: ‘If someone does such a thing like chopping a body part of a person with albinism or killing a person with albinism, he [will be] sentenced to death the same day. By hanging them.’

The Tanzanian government has banned witch doctors in a bid to halt the body parts trade.

But Canada-based charity Under The Same Sun has stepped in, bringing young victims to New York to recover from their ordeals and experience some of the normality of childhood.

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The boys have learned to help each other (Picture: REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)

One of the recovering victims, Baraka Lusambo, is just five years old.

He does not know his father is accused of involvement in his attack six months ago and is under arrest in Tanzania.

Elissa Montanti is the founder of the Global Medical Relief Fund which provides aid for severely-injured children, and she cared for the children in New York.

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A plush reindeer toy helps Emmanuel sleep at night (Picture: REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)

She said: ‘War is one thing, stepping on a land mine is one thing. But this is so deliberate.

‘It is one human to another, causing such incredible pain that I can’t comprehend it.’

Since 2000 about 75 albinos have been killed in Tanzinia, according to UN reports.

Victims Mwigulu, left, Pendo Sengerema Noni, centre, and Emmanuel, right, relax at their current home (Picture: REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)

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