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2000s: The sad case of the persecution of albinos in Tanzania
The Tanzania Conspiracy
What you need to know before your trail
Distraught by the murder of lawyer and good friend Valéria Michieka, Max O’Brien travels to Tanzania to track down those responsible. What starts as a fight for justice quickly becomes entangled with the persecution of albinos in the East African state. Thought by some to have supernatural powers, many albinos found themselves targeted for their body parts, and Max has reason to think that Valéria was killed because of her legal work defending albinos’ rights and safety.
Max’s investigation leads him to a night of slaughter, after which Valéria had convinced her government to reintroduce harsh punishments for human traffickers. Did the lawyer’s fight against the trade in body parts cost her her life? Max’s search for the truth about Valéria’s death is filled with unknowns, each more impenetrable than the last.
Travel Guide
Tanzania
The country and its practices are evoked well in the novel but because the practices of witchcraft and abuse against albinos is so shocking, there are many ‘scenes’ difficult to read.
The term ‘Witch-Doctor’ is used in the book but this can have two connotations . One is that of a traditional African healer and one of a negative dark magic witch figurre. There are thought to be some 75,000 in Tanzania alone. The term also carries with it many stereotypes of African exoticism.
Albino body parts can be turned into ‘charms’ by witchdoctors and they are believed to bring luck and wealth. They can even sell the skin for £6,000 for a small price, but it’s the internal organs which can demand tens of thousands of pounds.
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
A very interesting read I found this to be. Very sad and shocking in equal measure as it’s about the fate of albinos in Africa, politics, genocide and other tough topics. Yet there is also a mystery, a crime novel and a thread of a story leading back to Canada all the way through Texas too so the social and world implications are even bigger than first thought.
It paints a very harsh picture of Africa and I shudder to think that even half of this might be true. Witchcraft, black magic and folklore so powerful that people are willing to kill for it. You do despair for human kind sometimes but it just goes to show how powerful cultural and religious beliefs can be.
In this environment then, to have Max O’Brien, a man of many aliases, and a con man to boot, to investigate the goings on in the book, is quite apt. It certainly opened my eyes to such practices !Is this barbaric abuse and trafficking of body part really true?
A good thriller but it was quite complex in parts and I found myself having to take notes to keep track of character stories and locations. Still, a fascinating read on many levels.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: A Tanzania Conspiracy
Destination : Tanzania Author/Guide: Mario Bolduc Departure Time:2000s
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