The international albino awareness day is celebrated on 13 June. Albinism is an inherited genetic condition that reduces that amount of melanin pigment formed in the skin, hair and/or eyes.
Albino occurs in all areas of the world. Most children with albinism are born to normal parents who have normal hair and eye color for their ethnic backgrounds.
Albinism even affects some animals. Albinism can reduce the survivability of an animal; for example, it has been suggested that albino alligators have an average survival span of only 24 hours due to the lack of protection from UV and their lack of camouflage to avoid predators.
Albinism is associated with a number of vision defects, such as photophobia, nystagmus, and amblyopia. It causes more susceptibility to sunburn and skin cancers.
The chance of offspring with albinism resulting from the pairing of an organism with albinism and one without albinism is low. However, because organisms (including humans) can be carriers of genes for albinism without exhibiting any traits, albinistic offspring can be produced by two non-albinistic parents.
There are a lot of people who suffer from social and cultural challenges (even death threats) because of the pigmentation of their skin. A study conducted in Nigeria on albino children stated that “they experienced alienation, avoided social interactions and were less emotionally stable.
Furthermore, affected individuals were less likely to complete schooling, find employment, and find partners”. Many cultures around the world have developed beliefs regarding people with albinism.
Many people who have albinism are hunted and killed for their body parts. Superstitious beliefs that surround albinism are relatively high in Africa.
Even in countries like Malawi people with albinism have been killed for their body parts since November 2014. The number of disappearances of people with albinism has increased since 2000. Homes are invaded, people are kidnapped, children or toddlers are taken in broad daylight.
Family members such as uncles, fathers or boyfriends are often implicated.
Their mutilated bodies are often found later without hands, feet, breasts, genitals, skin, eyes or hair — depending on the spells to be cast.
People with albinism are no different at all from anyone else. They are as capable as anyone else of living productive lives, of having “normal” (i.e. regularly pigmented) children, of contributing to society as a whole.
And despite what ignorant people say, people with albinism are not being punished by the gods or ancestors, they are not the product of incest or interracial relationships, they are not sterile, and they are not possessed of strange or magical powers.
Many of these people with albinism are kidnapped and killed because they see their body parts being good luck and wealth. They are considered to have mythical powers. To date, however, such beliefs have been understood largely through anecdote, rather than empirical investigation.
This misconception has caused deaths, loss, and pain for the victims and families involved. Albinos are certainly no different from every other person.
International Albinism Awareness day is celebrated on June 13 and this year, photographer Yetune Ayeni-Babaeko used her art to celebrate the people.
One photograph has Taiwo Olateju and his twin brother. He is the only one in his family with albinism. He spoke about dark times in his life where he considered suicide because of his skin color.
“Everyone in my family, nuclear and extended, is dark-skinned. I am the only albino. For a long time, I felt alone in the world.” He said
Olateju says he was bullied and discriminated against in almost all spheres of life for simply having different eyes and skin. “When I was in secondary school someone actually told me that I was a mistake and deserved to die. It really messed with my self-esteem and to this day I hate that school,” he said.
Olateju says he is afraid to walk on the streets of Lagos, Nigeria, where he works as a model and fashion designer, because of these widespread superstitious beliefs.
“I have been told repeatedly that people who look like me have body parts that are good for rituals. I don’t like hearing it because it is my life on the line. “It makes me scared to walk freely on the road,” he said.
Yetune Ayeni-Babaeko is Lagos-based, she says she created the photographs to challenge the preconceived notions of albinism. She has spent more than a year working closely with people of the Albino Foundation.
“They are very strong people and have learned to live with being discriminated against. As a photographer, I wanted to do something different, to show another side of people with albinism,” she said
Albinos are as normal as every other person. They can work, have a regular love life. They are beautiful and strong.