EMBRACE PEOPLE WITH ALBINISM

Madam,

During the Albinism Awareness Month of September, we need to support and embrace people with albinism.

I personally have a friend with albinism and I like to be around him because he is smart and talented in music. Being around him helped me to appreciate the stresses of people with albinism. They feel bad when people stare at them, as if they are from another planet. They want to be treated like any other person because they are normal. When coming across a person with albinism just look and then quickly remove your eyes and look elsewhere. When we stare at them, they feel abnormal. When they do, they then tend to feel like getting away from that environment and escaping to their cocoons.

When walking with children, you must always warn them to also stop laughing and starring at people with albinism. Tell them it is a bad habit and they must never do it again. Some people say that people with albinism are violent, yet that is not true. If you bring them to a space where they are free to mingle and express themselves like everyone else, you will be surprised how friendly they are. These people who make discriminately comments against people with albinism should be called to order. This includes statements such as that their flesh is an ingredient for wealth muti and that they do not die but vanish. Such statements that belittle them must be criminalised.

Anyone who utters them must be immediately reported to the police and be prosecuted, because no one likes to be insulted or threatened with death. Many years ago at Jericho, a murderous man grabbed a baby and cut of her head in cold blood because of such beliefs in muti. The whole community was left reeling in shock because of the heinous act. Several other acts are reported in parts of the world, especially in Africa. The law must also allow people with albinism to get a drivers’ licence because they can wear spectacles like any other person. Those who have an impaired eyesight must also be afforded a disability grant if they are not employed anywhere.

People with albinism have a reduced amount of melanin – the substance that produces pigmentation for your hair, eye and skin or no melanin at all. As a result, people with albinism often have white or very light blonde hair (although some have brown or red hair), white skin and eyes that are gray, blue, green or pink. Due to melanin being involved in the development of theretina, albinism affects eyesight and can even cause blindness.

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