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. "It was in Ukerewe that the first census was done."This is the best time of the day: the day has begun but the sun is not yet up," he 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.
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.Like all people with albinism, Yakobo has very poor eyesight and is extremely vulnerable to skin cancer."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."Murder-free zoneOver the years, Ukerewe has become known as a haven for people with albinism.His brother Zacharia accompanies his songs with an air guitar."But we have never had an albino murder," points out Ramadhan Khalifa, president of Ukerewe's albino community.
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. The initiative came from the former president of UAS, and it was in 2006.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."Even if physical violence is rare, discrimination is not.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."In many respects, Ukerewe is at the forefront of integration of albinos in society.But the sun overhead is not the only threat to albinos.
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.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. "We could talk, and I would feel like I had passed on a part of myself. They survived and thrived and others, ostracised by society, made their way there too. In a few minutes time Yakobo will China spray gun factory put on a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses and slather sunscreen over every bit of his exposed skin.