Tanzanian journalist Vicky Ntetema has been selected for a bravery prize for reporting on dangers faced by albinos in Tanzania and Burundi.
 
The International Women's Media Foundation gave her a Courage in Journalism Award for her investigation.
 
"I am surprised but not happy," Ms Ntetema said in a press interview, adding that a four-year-old boy with albinism had recently been killed.
 
Some Tanzanian witch doctors say magic potions made with albino body parts can bring good luck and wealth. Some 53 people with albinism have been murdered in Tanzania in recent years, along with several others in neighbouring Burundi.
           
Ms Ntetema has twice had to flee Tanzania because of her reports into the powerful networks behind the killings and still needs 24-hour protection.
 
She called people with albinism “the real heroes, especially those who have had limbs cut off or women whose husbands have abandoned them after giving birth to albino children.”
 
Ms Ntetema, 51, now works for the Canadian human rights group Under The Same Sun. The awards will be presented at ceremonies in New York on Oct. 19 and in Los Angeles on Oct. 21.

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