And Yes, this must be true because I've never seen any Albino doing some serious Jobs like working in the banks, blue chip companies or anywhere close where there is some serious business going on.
Well, they have decided to cry out for help, and here is a story from one which I culled from Igistng.
Enjoy!!
He was barely one year old when his parents
neglected him and parted ways after a serious
fight, simply because he was an albino, a rare
breed that was contrary to what they had both
expected.
Forty years after, Mr. Abdullahi Obafemi, has yet
to recover from the painful knowledge that his
parents abandoned him. They tossed him
between each other until his grandmother, who
was living in northern Nigeria, took over his
custody.
Obafemi is still haunted by his history, the
humiliation and rejection he continues to suffer
from the public daily.
“I am my parents’ only child. I learnt their
marriage ended abruptly the moment my mother
gave birth to me as an albino. In fact, I learnt my
mother screamed, Eh! Afin ni mo bi (Ha, I gave
birth to an albino) when she saw me.
“While they were busy denying me and fighting
over who would take care of me, my
grandmother took me away from them,” Obafemi
said with a note of sadness.
Growing up was also not easy for Obafemi as he
helplessly endured the constant discrimination
meted against people like him.
Although albinos are no strange beings as they
only lack the pigment that gives colouration to
the skin and body parts, called melanin, they are
usually discriminated against.
Apart from their skin and brown hair, many
albinos suffer from short sight vision, thus, they
usually have challenge with seeing objects,
whether far or near.
Obafemi recalled his tough experience in school.
His bad sight affected his learning in school even
when he sat in front of the class.
He said, “I wasn’t seeing things clearly and I
couldn’t afford to buy reading glasses. I had to
rely on my classmates so I could copy from their
notes but they often treated me with disdain.
Nobody wanted to move close to an albino.
“Thank God I was brilliant, it was when they saw
that I was very good that they came close to me,
not because they liked me but they knew I would
always solve questions for them so they could
pass.”
Despite the resilience and hard work that saw
Obafemi through school, getting a good job has
remained an elusive desire. He was rejected,
abused and humiliated everywhere he looked for
job because of his albinism.
Obafemi studied Building Technology at the Yaba
College of Technology, Lagos.
“The pains, humiliation and rejection I went
through before I could graduate are things I don’t
like to remember. It is now more painful that
nobody wants to employ me because of my skin
and some employers even make jest of me.
“There was a time I applied for a job, and having
seen my application, I was invited to write a test.
When I got there, one of the interview panel
members said, ‘So you are an albino, don’t
worry; we will invite you some other time.’
“When I later got a job as a civil servant, I had to
learn painting to augment my meagre income
and even when people want to give me job, some
people would say I wouldn’t see very well
because of my eyes. They say I would paint green
instead of blue. I lost many jobs because of that
too but I got few on compassionate grounds.
“There was a day I went to apply for a security
job, I was asked by the company officials how I
would see people coming in and I told them I was
not blind. But they told me that I was the one
who needed security instead, not for me to be a
security man.”
Obafemi has had to combat rejection in many
ways, including relationship with women.
“Thankfully, I have a nine-year-old son now, who
is not an albino, but the family of his mother
didn’t allow me to marry her because I was an
albino and they said I wasn’t rich enough.
However, I am happy I have one already, but I
wish I was not an albino, because life would have
been easier for me, like others,” he added.
Peculiar troubles
Obafemi’s situation underscores the challenge
being faced by people affected by albinism.
Inasmuch as they are also humans, many of them
have dreams of what to become in life but a
number of them have had their hope of a better
life replaced by frustration and utter dislike for
themselves.
Tola Banjoko is another albino. She suffers from
bad sight, and that alone has cost her the desire
to go to school as she had to drop out of school.
Born into a family of 10, and as the only albino
in the family, life dealt cruelly with her. She told
Saturday Punchthat not even the idea of sitting in
front of the class would help her situation and
since her mother could not buy the
recommended glasses to aid her vision, she had
to stop going to school and opted to run a kiosk.
She said, “When I complained to my mother that
I didn’t see things on the board, she didn’t really
know what to do. My mother went to plead with
my teacher to allow me to sit in front but that
didn’t solve the problem.
“I was able to finish primary school because one
of my teachers would sit beside me and read the
questions to me during exams, but there was no
such help when I got to a public secondary school
that my parents could afford.
“In JSS1, one of my teachers would always tell
me to go and sit at the back because she said I
was too tall to sit in front. Even when I tried to
explain why I needed to sit there, she wouldn’t
listen. And my own sight was so bad that I could
put number one in two sometimes. When I
became so disturbed about everything, I stopped
schooling, more so that I couldn’t afford the pair
of glasses that would have aided my sight.”
Banjoko told Saturday PUNCH that after she
dropped out of school, her skin began to change
for the worst when she had to defy the golden
rule for albinos not to roam in the sun, to look
for a job until she couldn’t get any and had to
settle for running a small kiosk on the street
where she earns a living.
“While I was going out to look for job, it was like
fire was burning my skin each time I was in the
sun until I was forced to start selling things. I
still want to go to school and I don’t want to lose
hope, but I feel very bad that I am an albino
because my education has suffered for it and that
is a huge loss for me. I wish I was not an albino
but what can I do?” she lamented.
Lamentation, a shared currency
While Banjoko had to drop out of school because
of her sight, Chiamaka Chikwem, 26, managed to
go to school but has not had much to show for it,
even though she finished with a Second Class
Upper Division.
She told Saturday PUNCH that she feels so
unlucky and unfortunate being an albino because
of the disappointments, marginalisation and
discrimination she has had to live with.
Chikwem, a graduate of Microbiology from
Michael Okpara University, Umudike, Abia State
lamented that she had been so frustrated to the
extent of considering suicide when it seemed the
doors of favour had been shut against her.
“Even when I know I am qualified for a job, I
don’t get it and some even say it to my face that
an albino cannot do their kind of work. Albinism
does not affect our intelligence, we are not blind,
it is just the skin colour and our sight. I believe
in myself and I know I will make it because I
won’t give up,” she lamented.
I will never marry an albino
Chikwem said even though God created her for a
purpose, she would never marry a fellow albino.
She said, “I feel unlucky and unfortunate being
an albino and I will never marry an albino or
someone with the gene because that would be
double tragedy. It is not because there is
something wrong with albinos, I am an albino,
but the discrimination has made it a problem.
“I am at the moment an office secretary
somewhere and I do another free job because
some don’t even want me in the first place, so I
forced myself to be there so I could be actively
engaged even if I am not being paid. I like to
practise what I studied, but nobody wants to give
albinos a chance. But I won’t stop searching in
spite of the frustration.
“If I struggled to go to school with my short
sightedness and graduated with a Second Class
Upper division and I still do not get a job because
of my colour, that is not a thing of joy. I am sad.
Now I want to do my Master’s programme if that
would help, but I don’t have the money.”
As she continues to look for job, Chikwem is not
thinking about being in a relationship even at 26,
because she rarely gets passes from men. She
said, “That I’m an albino may be a factor, but I
don’t want to think that way. I don’t even like to
think about it so that it doesn’t compound my
problem, and the reason why you don’t see many
albinos at the top is because of the adversities
that we face. Those who are not strong-willed
tend to lose hope and withdraw their efforts.
“I once considered suicide when the adversities
and rejection became so severe; but I chose to
face it headlong. When one is pushed beyond
some limit, a reaction like suicide could flash
through the mind.”
Unrealisable dreams
Forty-three-year-old Lukman Desmond is one of
the over six million people living with albinism
in Nigeria. Currently unemployed, his dream was
to be an officer in the military but he has since
let go of that dream due to his albinism. He said
he didn’t bother to obtain the form because he
knew he would not be considered.
Lukman is trying to manage his fears that his
Ordinary Level qualification may not take him
anywhere in the midst of over 20 million black-
skinned Nigerian youths that are currently
unemployed, with the country’s 24 per cent
unemployment rate.
He said, “Presently, I have O’ level and I have
been looking for a job to support myself to
further my education but I have been turned
down everywhere I go, even if it is a menial job.
It’s frustrating. My father does not have enough
to support me to study to a higher level, so I
want to help myself and supplement whatever
they give to me but people don’t want to employ
an albino.
“Because of the rejections here and there, I do
ask myself if they don’t want us to live. Even
women discriminate against us. By the time you
don’t have a job, everybody avoids you and
nothing seems to be working in your favour,
what is there to live for.”
“At 44 now, I don’t have a girlfriend because they
don’t want to come close to me. I was dating a
lady sometime ago, but the moment the mother
saw me, the instant disapproval on her face was
too obvious that I didn’t even wait for her to say
it. But I will keep trying until I have a job and
married.
Troubled marriage
Apart from those who were born as albinos,
another thing that seems to have torn some
families apart is albinism. For the dearth of an
accurate way of ascertaining who has the
albinism gene, it appears Mrs. Linda Mustapha
would have others to tell her own kind of bitter
story.
Mustapha was barely 16 when she was forced into
marriage with a man she had never met by a
relative, shortly after her grandfather who had
been her guardian.
As a young girl bubbling with life and strong
desire for education, all her dreams of a better
future soon hit the rocks, an experience that
replaced her once joyous life with one full of
regrets and frustration, when she married
without her consent, to a man that was 15 years
older than her.
Fair skinned and very beautiful, when she got to
Lagos from the village, and was slowly reconciling
herself with the trauma that had flooded her
small world, she committed the unexpected
crime: She gave birth to albinos — a
phenomenon that runs contrary to the culture in
her husband’s village.
She had hope of continuing her education
someday even though the possibility was not
very bright initially when she had her first son, a
male with black complexion, but when the second
and third children came and they were albinos,
hell was let loose by the husband’s family, who
not only made sure she was divorced, but also
subjected the children to utter discomfort and
trouble.
Mustapha recalled that she never knew what love
or relationship meant before the arranged
marriage, and even when she followed the
husband to Lagos, but that life became hellish
when she had the two albinos. Since then, she
has been enduring a torturous life of abject
poverty.
Her case fits in perfectly into the common
rhetoric, ‘When the fruit of the womb becomes a
disadvantage.’
She said, “I was 10 when I lost my mum and my
dad died when I was 14. I was about registering
for junior WASSCE when my grandfather died
and that is why I don’t have my Junior School
Certificate till date because I wrote the exam on
credit. Instead of these relatives to help with my
exam fees, they were in a hurry to give me out
in marriage, and they did.”
She disclosed that to prove how desperate her
larger family members were to get rid of her,
when her husband could not pay the N600 dowry,
someone in her family lent him the money!
She said, “There was no love between us, he
never proposed to me and I never knew him. I
was a virgin when I was given to him and I never
knew anything about s*x or relationship before
then, so the pains I went through still haunt me
till today.
“He handled me as if I was inconsequential, while
I became pregnant a year after we arrived Lagos.
I was only 17. I wanted to go to school, but he
deceived me and told me that I would be
kidnapped if I did, and because of the magnitude
of the fear he had implanted in me, I could not
summon enough courage to run away. I wish I
had, even if I was going to die, because now I
live in regret and poverty.”
Her marital problems assumed a terrifying
dimension when she gave birth to two albinos—a
boy and a girl, as the situation pitched her
against her husband’s extended family. Even her
husband could not forgive her for these births.
Eventually, she was sent packing and told never
return to the man.
“They told me that it was forbidden to have an
albino in their tradition, and when I had mine,
his family members accused me of bringing an
albino, a forbidden genre of people in their
culture, to their home.
Mustapha’s experience underscores the evils of
child marriage and its attendant implications. As
a fair skinned beautiful lady, she recalled that the
husband would come to where she was selling
some things to beat and embarrass her, and even
accuse her of sleeping around even when she was
almost enslaved and was not allowed to go out at
will.
“Eventually, he threw my things out, he didn’t
allow me to sleep in the house, and I had to sleep
in the kitchen every night. As if that was not
enough, he locked me out and took the children
to his village where his family members made
him swear to an oath that he would never allow
me to step into his house again. When he was
returning to Lagos, they organised another
woman for him. The woman left when she
couldn’t cope with his attitude.
“My husband threatened to bathe me with acid if
he sees me around, all because I gave birth to
albinos.”
Life of regrets
Now 37, Mustapha’s torturous experience has
shaped her life and confined her into a corner of
abundant regrets. Having been out of job for a
long time and residing in a church somewhere in
Apapa area of Lagos State, she struggles to get
money to feed herself, her three children and the
husband, who is now sick, on a weekly basis.
Having been at the mercy of friends and relatives
since she lost her job as a cleaner, she is
currently living from hands to mouth to feed the
family of five and buy the necessary protective
items for her albino children.
“The children are with him because I don’t have
a house. I sleep in a church at the moment. I only
go to see them on weekends to give them food
that can last them for a week.
“I am not an albino. I didn’t grow up to see any
albino in my family, we are only fair skinned,
which is not even close to albinism, but they
have an albino in their lineage. They have shifted
the entire blame on me. I wish my parents didn’t
die that early, because all these wouldn’t have
happened if they had been alive.”
She said at a point, her in-laws even transferred
the anger they felt towards her to her children.
“On a particular occasion after I was sent out of
the house leaving my children behind, my
husband’s sister came around. One day, she
dipped my first son’s buttocks in hot water
because they accused him of stealing a belt,
leaving his buttocks severely burnt. When he
managed to call me and I got there, I took off his
trousers to see the extent of the damage. What I
saw was shocking! My son’s flesh was gummed to
the trousers and it peeled as I tried to remove the
trousers. I had to take him to the hospital where
the trousers were removed.
“As if that was not enough, the woman also gave
pepper and hot water to my first albino child to
swallow, and stood on him, all in a bid to
torment him. I regret everything that has
happened to me. I would have been able to escape
if not for my children but now I’m stuck, all
because I gave birth to albinos.
It’s not all gloom for the albinos
The coordinator of the albino group in Lagos
State, Mrs. Josephine Yejide, who is also a nurse,
said it is important for people to know that
albinism deals with gene and that it goes beyond
facial calculation.
She recalled that she had always lived a freedom-
spiced life as a young woman and that she never
allowed anybody to look down on her, which was
why she was able to make progress in her
education and career.
She said even though she had male friends who
liked her and wanted her for a relationship, they
would always run away when it was time to
discuss about marriage or meet with their
parents.
She said, “I never entertained inferiority
complex and I mixed with everybody, attended
parties and even joined the Kegites Club in
school, and I was committed to my work, so there
was no way anybody would malign me. I always
dress well because I understand the perception of
people about my skin colour, so if I dress well,
people would respect me. There is already a
minus for us, so looking bad makes it worse.”
While clarifying some of the controversies
trailing albinism, she said contrary to the idea
that only an albino could give birth to an albino
child, two people with black skin who are carriers
of the gene would likely have an albino child. She
added that if an albino marries someone who is
not an albino and does not have the gene at all,
they will not have albino as a child.
She said, “I am an albino but my husband is dark
and my children are not albinos because my
husband does not have the gene. They are only
fair and their fair complexion is not excessive. It
is not about being fair, it is about being a carrier
of the gene.
“We tell parents of albinos to go to the children’s
school and talk to the teachers to enable the
albino child to sit infront of the class and we
encourage albinos who are students to study
twice as much as others because of their sight.”
Josephine added that living with albinism could
be very challenging but the main challenges lie
with their skin and sight.
Another albino, Dr. Douglas Anele, who is a
senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy,
University of Lagos, is one of the albinos who
have carved a niche for themselves. He is a
prolific writer, with many of his scholarly works
published in international journals.
How albinos are treated across the world
Albinism is said to affect about one in every
20,000 people across the world and this
population is distributed across some countries.
In China, the world most populous country, one
out of every 18,000 people is affected, out of its
over 1.3 billion people. In the United States, one
out of every 37,000 people is affected, out of its
over 319 million people. Also, in the United
Kingdom, one of every 17,000 people is said to be
affected, out of its over 64 million people.
With over six million albinos in Nigeria, the
country is rated to have one of the highest
albinism prevalent rates in the world while
children constitute about 40 per cent of the
population. In many African countries with black
people like Nigeria, anyone with a deviant colour
stands to be treated as an outcast.
While albinism has been proven to be a genetic
condition caused by the absent of melanin in the
skin of those affected, many African children are
at the risk of deep rejection, discrimination and
even death, the latter being occasioned by the
myth that they have potency for black magic
ritual, fortune, wealth and good health.
Many of these people are not only faced with the
threat of death, occasioned by ritualists, some of
them are either illiterates or poorly educated,
mainly because of low vision, impairment,
intimidation and exclusion as a result of their
skin condition.
Even though Kenya and Tanzania are countries
with budgetary provisions for albinos, other
countries like Nigeria have no such provision.
Hence, people living with albinism, who are lucky
to be alive, are left to struggle for survival if they
are not from well off families.
With about 49.3 million people, Tanzania has
about one of the highest rates of albinism in the
world, as one in every 1,429 people is an albino
and less than two per cent of albino children in
the country live to be 40 years old.
In fact, the United Nations rated Tanzania on top
of the list of African countries where albinos live
in constant fear for their lives due to their
persecution. Apart from the fact that over 70
albinos have been killed over the last three years
in Tanzania, with only 10 convicted for m****r,
in some parts of the country, albino children are
not allowed to go to school alone as they go with
bodyguards. Also, the graves of those that are
dead are piled with rocks to deter robbers who
delight in robbing their graves.
In the same vein, The Albino Foundation, a non-
governmental organisation in charge of albinos
in Nigeria, said people living with albinism in
the country least enjoy the same level of special
attention, security and support from government
at all levels, unlike what obtains in some other
countries.
Speaking about the discrimination against
persons living with albinism in Nigeria,
otherwise known as albinos, the founder and
chief executive officer of the foundation, Mr. Jake
Epelle, lamented that albinos were still being
killed in some parts of the country and decried
the discrimination against them.
He said apart from the fact that Nigeria does not
have budgetary allocation to help albinos like
other countries such as Tanzania and Liberia,
government has not done enough for the
albinos”, even though it (government) must still
be commended for its free treatment of albinos
with skin cancer at the National Hospital in
Abuja.
On what the Foundation is doing to help albinos
who are not able to afford the basic protective
items, Epelle said, “We have appealed to
government at all levels to purchase and
distribute free sunscreen to our members and we
have increased awareness on the dangers albinos
face when exposed to the sun .
“As we speak, we have sunscreen valued at
€500,000 lying at the Apapa Port awaiting
clearing. We have appealed and cried to the
government and even the shippers concerned to
please release the product, which will expire in
the next couple of months, but the products are
still there because we don’t have money to clear
them.
“If those products are cleared and released to us,
it will save albinos from the skin cancer. That is
what will prevent the scourge of skin cancer
among us, and it has our logo, so it cannot be
sold, and it is even more painful that we need
less than N1m to clear the products.
“Federal Government needs to pay this bill on
our behalf because it will save us the treatment
of albinos for a year or two, and we will use it to
prevent skin cancer instead of treating it, which
costs between N2m and N3m for one person.
“Even though the Federal Government is paying
millions of naira to cover our bills on skin cancer
treatment, if they can pay a few thousands to
acquire this sunscreen, it will prevent the
expenditure of millions spent on the treatment
because prevention is the key.
In his reaction to the discrimination challenge by
the albinos, human rights activist and legal
practitioner, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, said whether the
discrimination is subtle or brazen, as enshrined
in the constitution, no Nigerian must be
discriminated against on account of s*x, ethnicity
and circumstances of birth, as it is the case with
albinos.
He said if such discrimination happens and there
is sufficient evidence, oral or written, to prove
such in the court, such victim should “not stay
back and take it to be a shame, or with
equanimity or philosophical calmness, but sue for
damages.”
He said, “If an employer refuses to employ
somebody because the person is an albino, and
there is an evidence that states clearly that the
reason such a person was not employed was
because of the albinism, that will be a sufficient
cause to approach a court to sue for damages.
Likewise, anyone denied of his/her rights
becasue of the circumstance of birth, like an
albino, can approach the court for damages.”
“Once there is a wrong, there is a remedy, so if
such happens, there is a wrong and the law
certainly has a remedy but it won’t come if they
sit back and do not come forward to enforce their
rights.”
Also, a psychologist, Prof. Oni Fagboungbe, said
some albinos have inferiority complex because
they see themselves as who people say they are,
w
hich tend to result in low self worth. He added
that the way humans perceive themselves is
influenced by the people around them.
“Because the society has rated them so low and
some of them have imbibed it, that is why they
don’t attain prominence. Thus, the psychological
effect of the rejection is that the albinos cannot
do what others are doing and cannot be where
others are because of who the society has made
them feel they are. Believing in self is key for
people who suffer such discrimination. ” he said.
