By: Karishma Dipa
Johannesburg - The body parts of people living with albinism cannot be used to bring good fortune and sleeping with a virgin albino child cannot cure HIV/Aids.
Albino people also can’t pass on the gene to an unborn baby if a pregnant mother simply comes into contact with them.
This is the message that the Albinism Society of South Africa (ASSA) has for the public.
During Albinism Month, which is celebrated this month, the organisation has pulled out all the stops to educate people and dispel the myths surrounding albinism.
Their campaign also aims to highlight the plight of those living with the genetic condition, where people are born without the usual pigment in their skin.
As a result, their bodies aren’t able to make a normal amount of melanin, the chemical that is responsible for eye, skin, and hair colour.
This campaign includes visiting schools and clinics to educate those there about albinism, doing door-to-door campaigns and passing out pamphlets that detail information about the condition at public areas such as Park Station in the Joburg CBD.
Nomasonto Mazibuko, the executive director at ASSA, said these public awareness campaigns were imperative to combat discrimination and false information which led to those living with albinism being killed for their body parts.
She told The Star that she hoped the initiative would help dismantle the dangerous folklore about the condition.
“We want to educate people and tell them that people with albinism are not lucky charms - people still believe that our body parts can make people rich,” she said.
Mazibuko said another myth was that albino people didn’t die, they just disappeared.
Although the myths sound far-fetched, she said many parents of children born with albinism believed them to be true and some even sold their children.
“Children are a gift from God, we don’t expect parents to traffic and sell their albino child,” she said.
For this reason, the association offers regular support groups and counselling sessions for parents and their albino children.
Mazibuko, who founded the association in 1992, hopes that those living with the condition, their families and the public at large will increasingly embrace those living with albinism instead of discriminating against them.
“Discrimination is a human rights violation and the constitution of South Africa says we have the right to life so then why are we killed?” she questioned.
“People must see that we are human and embrace us, especially parents of albino children.”
These sentiments were echoed by model and actress Thando Hopa, who was born with albinism.
She said that support from her family helped her through her difficult childhood when she had to endure taunting and discrimination from her classmates.
“My parents are wonderful, I was continuously embraced, I never really acknowledged that I was different,” she said.
“Then came the first day of school; it was the only time I started noticing that I was different because children wouldn’t sit next to me, and after some time, came the name calling.
“I just had to continuously go through that dynamic of being absolutely loved and absolutely not accepted.”
When Hopa was scouted at Cresta Shopping Centre by local designer Gert-Johan Coetzee, she admitted that she was doubtful about becoming a model, but eventually changed her mind when she realised she could be a role model to others.
“I wasn’t really interested but I looked at my own childhood and I didn’t have role models that looked like me, that I could identify with, so I thought it was a good opportunity to become a model to inspire others like me.”
Hopa said that although much progress had been made in the fashion and beauty industry in the way it dealt with different types of people, she said there was still much more that could be done.
“There needs to be a point in the media and beauty industry where the difference in images are more accepted and the only way to do that is to be confronted with it.”
Mazibuko also agrees that there has been significant progress, particularly in Gauteng where the association is based, in the manner in which albino people are treated.
Part of this is due to the partnership ASSA has with the provincial Department of Social Development, which provides funding for the work they do in fighting the scourge of abuse against albinos.
Mazibuko said abuse against albinos was rife in other parts of the country, especially in KwaZulu-Natal where recently there had been murders believed to be linked to witchcraft, including that of Thandazile Mpunza, who was killed and dismembered in Manguzi, north of the province, last year.
But Mazibuko said to adequately fight abuse against those living with albinism, ASSA required more funding to provide support to albinos and their families.
@Karishma_Dipa
The Star