"We play football because we want to unite the albino people and make them happy. There are 170.000 albinos in Tanzania but we all have a difficult life; people believe we are living ghosts and call us freaks" says Albino United player Jacob.

By Lotte Vermeij, Dar es Salaam

It is a sunny, late afternoon when a group of young men head to their football training in coastal Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Not such a strange sight given the popularity of football in the East African country. But these young men are not just kicking the ball around. They are are albinos with the aim to break taboos surrounding albinism in their country.

Highly motivated
Even though it is 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun is still shining bright on the white skins of the young albino men of Albino United. This can be quite dangerous since their eyes, hair and skin lack the pigmentation which normally protects our skin from ultraviolet rays. Yet, this does not dampen in any way their motivation to reach their goal.

"The Tanzanians despise and discriminate against us. In parts of the country people hunt us; they kill albinos because witchdoctors use albino body parts to make magic potions and lucky charms. We don't feel safe in our own country so we decided we need to stand together and show the Tanzanians that we are just ordinary people like everybody else."

Albino killings have been happening regularly since 2007. Many albino children especially have disappeared and were later found dead with severed limbs or even decapitated. Faced with such injustice and misunderstanding, Albino United players could not remain with their arms crossed. They stood up for their rights and started a ‘lead-by-example’ campaign.

Just as good
Football being one of the most popular sports in Tanzania, it seems to be quite an effective means to reach their goal. Albino United decided to start playing matches throughout the country. They want to prove that albinos can be just as good at it as any other ‘normal’ team evolving in the Tanzanian third division. And success they have. The team's recent wins have not only boosted the players' confidence and team spirit, but also help the progress in their mission.

"At first Tanzanians made fun of us. It hurt, but we decided not to give up. We fought through all the pain as a team and we started winning. It has finally made us feel like equal human beings and it helped us to get over our insecurities that we have always been taught to believe in. We now believe that we can do anything as long as we stand together. We want to help all albinos living in Tanzania to stop living in fear" says Jacob with a big smile on his face.

"You can be united! We are people! We can be together!” With such a “war cry” at the end of their training session that afternoon, a sense positivity, high team spirit and determination radiates among the players of Albino United.