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Albino Children Return To Tanzania With Prosthetic Limbs

Albino Children Return To Tanzania With Prosthetic Limbs

 

A 17-year-old girl who had her arm cut off because of superstitions surrounding albinism in Africa is heading home after getting a new prosthetic arm. She is one of 5 children who traveled to the U.S. to get help, AP reports.

“She’ll have a lot of mobility and able to function so much better,” said Elissa Montanti, founder of Global Medical Relief Fund charity.

In the two-plus months since the children arrived from Tanzania, Montanti grew close with them. They’ll return to safe houses in Tanzania run by a Canadian charity, Under the Same Sun. Montanti’s fund will bring them back to the U.S. to get new prostheses as they grow, according to the AssociatedPress. “They’ve been through so much,” Montanti said.

The five albino children, ranging in age from 5 to 17, were hunted for their limbs, which were sold on the black market in Africa for potions, the AssociatedPress reported.

The children got prosthetic limbs and a chance to live in and explore New York City, thanks to the relief fund, which helps children who have lost limbs in crisis zones obtain custom prostheses, the AP reported.

All five children spent the summer at the charity’s home in New York’s Staten Island while they were fitted for and learned to use prostheses about two hours away at Philadelphia Shriners Hospital for Children, WSJ reports.

“They’re not getting their arm back,” Montanti said. “But they are getting something that is going help them lead a productive life and be part of society and not be looked upon as a freak or that they are less than whole.”

Albinism affects more Tanzanians than the rest of the world — about one in every 15,000 people in Tanzania — according to the U.N. Anyone with the condition is at risk of exploitation, and people attacked once can be attacked again, AP reports.

The Tanzanian government banned witch doctors in 2014 in hopes of curtailing the attacks, but they haven’t just continued — they’ve increased in Tanzania and neighboring Malawi, according to the U.N. Tanzania recorded at least eight attacks in the past year.