The current issue of The Economist has a very disturbing article of another horror that some men commit on their fellows.
It is not a story about Mexico. But it carries one of those messages that should haunt all of us.
Tanzania's albinos are being slaughtered. Not albino rhinoceroses. Not albino crocodiles. Albino people.
The Tanzanian government recently distributed free telephones to albinos in the country to call for help -- because gangsters are tracking them to harvest body parts. Their body parts.
The article recounts the separate tales of an 8-year old boy and a 6 year-old girl who were brutally killed and dismembered. The details are not necessary. Suffice it to say, no child -- no person -- should die like that.
But for what purpose?
Political differences?
Religious strife?
The answer is perhaps the most chilling part of the story. The body parts can fetch up to $1,000 when sold to witch doctors. They are ground into powder as a potion for material riches.
I have taken out the lurid details, but that last line simply sickened me. Children hacked to death to provide desperate people the promise of wealth that they will never see.
Terrible things happen every day in this world. None of us can change that. But we can certainly take the opportunity whenever a person in need crosses our path that we do what we can to alleviate their need.
It is not a story about Mexico. But it carries one of those messages that should haunt all of us.
Tanzania's albinos are being slaughtered. Not albino rhinoceroses. Not albino crocodiles. Albino people.
The Tanzanian government recently distributed free telephones to albinos in the country to call for help -- because gangsters are tracking them to harvest body parts. Their body parts.
The article recounts the separate tales of an 8-year old boy and a 6 year-old girl who were brutally killed and dismembered. The details are not necessary. Suffice it to say, no child -- no person -- should die like that.
But for what purpose?
Political differences?
Religious strife?
The answer is perhaps the most chilling part of the story. The body parts can fetch up to $1,000 when sold to witch doctors. They are ground into powder as a potion for material riches.
I have taken out the lurid details, but that last line simply sickened me. Children hacked to death to provide desperate people the promise of wealth that they will never see.
Terrible things happen every day in this world. None of us can change that. But we can certainly take the opportunity whenever a person in need crosses our path that we do what we can to alleviate their need.
