"I was born an albino, but my attackers have made me disabled"

A lack of pigment in the skin cruelly brings the curse of death and fear upon albinos and their families in Tanzania.

A report on the BBC reveals a heartbreaking story of Mariam Staford Bandaba, who was attacked and had her hand chopped off because of her albinism and superstition.

In Tanzania,witch-doctors believe that a potion made of an albino's hair, blood or limbs will bring different kinds of fortune respectively and pave the way to affluence. An undercover BBC journalist pretended to be a customer and taped a shocking conversation with a witch-doctor.

A year ago, Mariam fell into the victimhood and became one of the many sacrifices. A gang attacked her; tried to kill her and sell her remains for witchcraft. Luckily, she escaped and only got one of her hands chopped off but the other had to be amputated in hospital. What is left in her is an infinite amount of trauma and haunting memories.

Mariam was brave enough to identify her attackers. The government hence took her into a safe-house where she could live under protection. All seemed settled until recently, when the Tanzania authority decided that Mariam and her family could no longer live there and have to move back to their village, where the relatives of the attackers still live.

"I can't imagine what will happen. What I did was just start crying." Mariam recalled when officials broke the news to her.

Her father also admitted his anxiety for Mariam and the entire family, including four siblings, frightened that reprisal attacks would carry out on other family members.

"Those who are responsible, all their relatives are still there, and those released from prison, are still living where we were living. So how can we stay there?" Mr Bandaba said. He is not the only one who thinks that the perpetrator would just "finish Mariam off" if they were to set foot in the village.

Government officials defended the decision by saying that some of the attackers were not found guilty and hence can not be kept in prison. According to the law, they are allowed to return to the village.

President Jakaya Kikwete states that actions are being taken to protect albinos in the country and execute perpetrators. In March, thousands of people took part to identify those they suspected of being involved in by filling in forms anonymously.

After Mariam's story was reported, a local businessman agreed to provide her and her family a place to live for the next year. What will happen to Mariam after that, and what will happen to more than 100 000 albinos in the country? Nobody knows. What we know is that their pleas cannot be ignored.

"I was born an albino," Mariam said. "But my attackers have made me disabled. I am begging all Tanzanians to kindly keep on helping me, because my situation is now worse. I have no hands."

Photos courtesy of the BBC. For more personal stories of albinos in Tanzania, click here. You can also watch an undercover journalist's conversation with a witch-doctor here.