Many years ago, I met a young man whose albino brother had been dismembered for black magic. His story has stuck with me ever since. The use of albino body parts for black magic is prevalent in some parts of East Africa, and it’s an issue that has made international headlines in recent years, with organisations like Amnesty International running extensive human rights awareness campaigns. I’ve been considering this as a jumping off point into a fictional novel, provisionally titled White Juju.
White Juju will focus on a young Australian couple working on a post-COVID aid project in Tanzania. The couple are distraught when their fair-skinned infant son is mistakenly swept up in a mass abduction of people with albinism. The abduction is linked to the country’s upcoming elections, where politicians occasionally use black magic charms to better their chances at the polls. Readers will follow the couple’s traumatic search for their boy from Dar es-Salaam’s smoky nightclubs, to the Chinese-owned fishing fleets off Zanzibar, and finally to Morocco, where they encounter a Kurtz-esque Frenchwoman who’ll do anything to protect her lucrative and bloody livelihood.
I’ve recently been successful in securing a residency with Green Olive Arts, in Tetouan, Morocco, for September 2022, to work on the new book. With the vaccine rollout now underway in Australia, I’m confident (and can’t wait!) for a return to international travel next year.