As the developed world reels from the shock waves of financial crisis, a crisis of a different kind is sweeping Tanzania, probably unreported by the international media. It is albino sacrifice.

Albino people have a very hard life. They suffer with serious skin disorders, often leaving them permanently disfigured. They must always seek shelter from the intense African sun. Worst of all, they are ostracized by society. Most albino people develop emotional problems through the stigma they bear; the albino suicide rate is high.

To add to their woes, there has recently been a surge in kidnapping and murder of albino people, whose skin and body parts are considered to have supernatural powers. Albino skins stretched over black bodies are believed to afford protection against evil spirits. Body parts from albino people are valued as good luck charms for miners and people in other businesses. The parts are concealed under clothing, tied to the workers' bodies, or kept hidden in the mine or business premises.

People, influenced by witch doctors, frequently testify to the success of these practices in bringing protection and prosperity. So they proliferate.

The government has been slow to take action on matters of a purely cultural nature, and the major Christian churches, weakened by institutionalism and political bindings, tend not to speak out.

Pray

• for the one, all-powerful, good, Holy Spirit of God to prevail against the power of evil spirits in Tanzania.
• that people will be released from the deception that is leading them astray.
• for the safety and salvation of albino people, who being among the poor and oppressed, have a special place in God's eternal Kingdom of righteousness through Jesus Christ.