Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan (review)

To be an albino in certain parts of modern-day Tanzania is a dangerous thing: a relatively new superstition holds that the body parts of albinos, including hair, legs, and skin, bring luck. More dangerous, though, is that the trade in these things brings money, and lots of it, to unscrupulous hunters and wagangas. As an albino, Habo is painfully aware of his difference, which makes him unable to work in the hot sun and to see with clarity, but he is unaware of his danger until his family moves to Mwanza, where the police turn a blind eye to the killing and maiming of albinos. Pursued by a hunter his family met along the way, Habo escapes to Dar es Salaam, where he is taken in and tutored by a blind sculptor whom he tried to rob. Habo hides his albinism from Kweli at first, but as the two form a friendship, he realizes that Kweli is the sort of person who can see beyond superficialities to the person within. In addition to exposing a despicable practice, Habo's story is an especially well-crafted tale of acceptance and the power of friendship and family in the face of adversity. Sullivan is sensitive to the communitarian values of Tanzanian culture, depicting with admirable subtlety the ways her various characters, good and bad, scared and heroic, live out their relationships to family, belief, cultural tradition, and greed. Kweli's and Habo's sculptures are both metaphor and vehicle for Habo's coming of age; readers will be captivated and inspired by Habo's story as well as horrified by the practice that endangers his life. Resources for information and activism are included, as is a glossary of the Kiswahili terms used in the book.