Global Notes: The Tanzanian Albinism Collective

Dr. Scott H. Kozin examines 13-year-old Emmanuel Rutema, of Tanzania, who has the hereditary condition of albinism, before his surgery at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia on Tuesday, June 30, 2015. People with the genetic condition, characterized by a lack of pigment, are often referred to in Tanzania as ghosts, or zero zero, which in Swahili signifies someone who is less than human. Witch doctors often lead brutal attacks to use albino body parts in potions they claim bring riches.
Dr. Scott H. Kozin examines 13-year-old Emmanuel Rutema, of Tanzania, who has the hereditary condition of albinism, before his surgery at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia on Tuesday, June 30, 2015. People with the genetic condition, characterized by a lack of pigment, are often referred to in Tanzania as ghosts, or zero zero, which in Swahili signifies someone who is less than human. Witch doctors often lead brutal attacks to use albino body parts in potions they claim bring riches. Matt Rourke / AP Photo
Dr. Scott H. Kozin examines 13-year-old Emmanuel Rutema, of Tanzania, who has the hereditary condition of albinism, before his surgery at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia on Tuesday, June 30, 2015. People with the genetic condition, characterized by a lack of pigment, are often referred to in Tanzania as ghosts, or zero zero, which in Swahili signifies someone who is less than human. Witch doctors often lead brutal attacks to use albino body parts in potions they claim bring riches.
Dr. Scott H. Kozin examines 13-year-old Emmanuel Rutema, of Tanzania, who has the hereditary condition of albinism, before his surgery at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia on Tuesday, June 30, 2015. People with the genetic condition, characterized by a lack of pigment, are often referred to in Tanzania as ghosts, or zero zero, which in Swahili signifies someone who is less than human. Witch doctors often lead brutal attacks to use albino body parts in potions they claim bring riches. Matt Rourke / AP Photo

Global Notes: The Tanzanian Albinism Collective

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This week on Global Notes, we talk with producer and activist Ian Brennan. His last two recording projects brought him to a maximum security prison in Zomba, Malawi to record songs by prisoners at Zomba Prison. The first was nominated for a Grammy. This time Brennan traveled to an island off Tanzania where he encouraged Tanzanians with Albinism who live there to share their experiences through song. The result is the album, creating the ​Tanzanian Albinism Collective, and their album White African Power. We rebroadcast the interview with Morning Shift and Radio M’s Tony Sarabia from 2017 in honor of International Albinism Awareness Day.

This interview was originally broadcast on April 26, 2017.