Jay456watt
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 23, 2016
- 10,356
- 7,992
Four Tanzanian children with albinism, who lost limbs in brutal superstition-driven attacks, arrived in the United States on Saturday for medical treatment and respite from a homeland where they are persecuted and feared.
Weary from travel, the four stepped off a jet at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where Elissa Montanti, founder of the Global Medical Relief Fund(GMRF), was waiting to care for them.
The New York-based GMRF hosts children from around the world who have been injured in conflict or disaster.
Many need prosthetics like the children from Tanzania, where people with albinism live in danger.
Their body parts are highly valued in witchcraft and can fetch a high price. Superstition leads many to believe they are ghosts who bring bad luck.
The children who arrived on Saturday were making a return trip, having outgrown prosthetics they got in the United States with the help of GMRF two years ago.
The oldest boy, 15-year-old Emmanuel Rutema, speaks with difficulty. His attackers chopped off one arm and the fingers of the other and tried to pull out his tongue and teeth.
“I’ve come back to get a new arm,” he said in Swahili through an interpreter, tugging at his empty shirtsleeve.
Baraka Lusambo, 8, grinned in obvious delight as he took in the bustling airport and swung from the arm of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer.
Mwigulu Magesa, 14, and Pendo Noni, 17, hung back, shyly seeking reassurance from Ester Rwela, a social worker who traveled with them from Tanzania.
Weary from travel, the four stepped off a jet at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where Elissa Montanti, founder of the Global Medical Relief Fund(GMRF), was waiting to care for them.
The New York-based GMRF hosts children from around the world who have been injured in conflict or disaster.
Many need prosthetics like the children from Tanzania, where people with albinism live in danger.
Their body parts are highly valued in witchcraft and can fetch a high price. Superstition leads many to believe they are ghosts who bring bad luck.
The children who arrived on Saturday were making a return trip, having outgrown prosthetics they got in the United States with the help of GMRF two years ago.
The oldest boy, 15-year-old Emmanuel Rutema, speaks with difficulty. His attackers chopped off one arm and the fingers of the other and tried to pull out his tongue and teeth.
“I’ve come back to get a new arm,” he said in Swahili through an interpreter, tugging at his empty shirtsleeve.
Baraka Lusambo, 8, grinned in obvious delight as he took in the bustling airport and swung from the arm of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer.
Mwigulu Magesa, 14, and Pendo Noni, 17, hung back, shyly seeking reassurance from Ester Rwela, a social worker who traveled with them from Tanzania.
