A 42-year-old garment maker, Marian Stanford has shared her horrifying experience of being violently attacked because she was born with albinism, a condition still shrouded in dangerous superstitions in parts of Tanzania.
Speaking in an interview with BBC Africa, Stanford described how her life changed forever one night when a group of men broke into her home. Their motive, she said, was rooted in a deadly belief that body parts of people living with albinism can bring wealth, success, and political power.
“They cut off my right hand and took it away, and then they also cut off my left hand,” she recounted, her voice trembling as she relived the trauma.
Stanford’s ordeal is part of a larger pattern of targeted attacks against people with albinism in Tanzania. Human rights groups estimate that dozens have been killed or maimed in recent years due to ritual practices that treat them as sources of fortune or power. Despite public condemnation and stricter laws, such incidents continue to occur in remote communities where myths about albinism remain deeply entrenched.
“I was just an ordinary woman trying to make a living with my sewing,” Stanford said. “They took away my hands but they did not take away my will to live.”
Advocacy groups have renewed calls for the Tanzanian government to do more to protect people with albinism, urging stronger law enforcement, better healthcare access for survivors, and intensified public education campaigns to dispel harmful beliefs.
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