Like all people with albinism, Yakobo has very poor eyesight and is extremely vulnerable to skin cancer.. "There were times when I was afraid in the past, but now I thank God because we can sleep at night without a gun," says Yakobo, who works as a fishmonger in Ukerewe market.According to the Ukerewe Albino Society (UAS) there are 75 people with albinism living on the island of 200,000, a proportion roughly in keeping with the national average."In many respects, Ukerewe is at the forefront of integration of albinos in society."This is the best time of the day: the day has begun but the sun is not yet up," he china garden umbrellas says.Yakobo suffers from a genetic condition called albinism, meaning his body does not produce melanin leaving his skin, hair and eyes devoid of pigmentation and protection from the sun.His brother Zacharia accompanies his songs with an air guitar.Canadian charity Under The Same Sun (UTSS) has documented 161 attacks on people with albinism in Tanzania in recent years, including 76 murders, more than anywhere else in Africa. "It was in Ukerewe that the first census was done.But the sun overhead is not the only threat to albinos. "When his father saw the colour of the child, he was not happy, and he has abandoned us," she says.Here in Tanzania, as well as in Malawi and some other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, albino body parts are sought after for potions and charms thought to bring luck and wealth, and many fall victim to murderers who dismember their bodies to supply this grisly black market trade."Here, we are safe, we are surrounded by water, no one can commit a crime and escape easily," said Yakobo, who has three wives but regrets that not one of his 11 children is albino."But we have never had an albino murder," points out Ramadhan Khalifa, president of Ukerewe's albino community.""I'm not afraid of being attacked," says Kajanja Neema, 36, dissecting tiny fish for the evening meal, along a busy street from the main town of the island.

Over the years, Ukerewe has become known as a haven for people with albinism.Hadija Namtondo is a 30-year old mother with black skin and a four-year-old albino son called Riziki. "We could talk, and I would feel like I had passed on a part of myself.People say that it started long ago when families would abandon their albino relatives on the island, believing their unusual, ghostly appearance was the sign of a curse.As elsewhere in Tanzania, body-snatchers have come to the island to dig albino corpses from their graves and in 2007 one person was attacked and had his white hair cut for use in witchcraft, says Vicky Ntetema, director of the Tanzanian branch of UTSS. And I think the fact that it's an island plays a big part in the minds of people, but reality is a bit more nuanced," says Harry Freeland, founder of the non-governmental organisation Standing Voice and the maker of a documentary about Ukerewe. They survived and thrived and others, ostracised by society, made their way there too. The initiative came from the former president of UAS, and it was in 2006."Even if physical violence is rare, discrimination is not.Yet Ukerewe island is relatively untouched by this phenomenon.Abandoned"Ukerewe is unique in that sense," says Freeland. Over the years, Ukerewe has become known as a haven for people with albinism. In a few minutes time Yakobo will put on a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses and slather sunscreen over every bit of his exposed skin. Ukerewe, Tanzania: It's an hour after dawn on Ukerewe island in Lake Victoria and Alphonce Yakobo, face and hands withered by the scorching sun that has tortured his pigment-free skin for all of his 57 years, is vigorously sweeping the leaves outside his house. "Yes, Ukerewe is safer than mainland, but it's not perfect," he said, "Sometimes, people say they will kill us, and we never know if they mean it or not."Murder-free zoneOver the years, Ukerewe has become known as a haven for people with albinism.

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