Starting today, and for the next two weeks, Premier News will present a series of articles looking into the plight of people living with Albinism in Sierra Leone. This is the first episode. Watch out for our next series on Wednesday, March 3rd.
By Stephen V. Lansana
Sierra Leone has not always been kind with its people living with disabilities, and in general with those who look “different,” such as people living with albinism.
Myths claiming that people living with albinism are witches and immortal creatures are still present in the society, but are the newer generations of Sierra Leoneans, with access to knowledge and education, moving away from these outrageous views?
To find out, we conducted random interviews at the Fourah Bay College (FBC), University of Sierra Leone (USL) and also at the Model Junction, Circular road in Freetown.
Kadijatu Kallon believes that there are still people in the society that marginalize and discriminate against the people living with disabilities. “It is wrong,” she said, “God created them the same way God created us.”
Ms Kallon said the government must step in and address these unacceptable behaviors to create conditions so that people living with albinism lead a meaningful life too. “We all na one,” she said.
Student in final yearin the Political Science Department at FBC, Abdulrahman Kamara accurately described that albinism is a medical condition caused by the lack of pigmentation of the skin. But as a young child, his views about people living with albinism were wrongly shaped by his grandmother.
“During the [civil] war, I was in Lungi, I was a kid. I met an albinism child and automatically I became afraid. My grandmother used to tell me that they are not human. That they are devilish people. That’s why I was so afraid.”
But his views have changed with access to knowledge and education, and Abdulrahman Kamara says the government needs to step in and reshape people’s old mentalities. “The government must educate people not to stigmatize [people living with albinism]. We are all the same, we are all humans. Even if their skin color is different, we are still the same. All of us are Sierra Leoneans and we must accept each other.”
Kolleh Foday Kamara, who studies law at FBC, said that he first spoke with a person living with albinism when he was helping with the 2015 population and housing census. He learned then that people living with albinism are self-aware that they look different, but that it does not stop them from doing anything they want.
“People used to say that people living with albinism are created by witchcraft. Most people say that people living with albinism are not created by God, they just come from nowhere. Most of the people do stigmatize them, discriminate them because of their color.”
Kamara added that the government must step up and put a stop to the discrimination and stigmatization. “The government must step up, especially in school, because [students] provoke the people living with albinism.”
Ibrahim Bockarie, a Network Technician said that sometimes because of their colour, some people usually discriminate people living with albinism. “But colour does not matter. We are all human beings.”
Santigie Kamara, law student at FBC,grew up with the wrong conceptions too. “I used to have the wrong perceptions. Our people used to say that it is a spiritual condition, but I came to realized that it is a medical condition.”
Santigie fondly remembers his friend from class I, a child living with albinism. “Initially, because I had no idea about witches and witchcraft, I was not afraid of him. But then I began hearing the myths that they are spiritual beings, and they don’t die, so I began to be afraid of him. But he was a kind person,” he explained.
He raised concerns that most people living with albinism face: because of lack of pigmentation in the skin, which has the role of protecting from sun burn, their skin is exposed to the harmful rays of the sun that can cause cancer. “The government must make the [skin protecting] cream available to them.”
“Also, the issue of stigmatization. They should not be called ‘albino.’ That in itself is stigma. They should be called ‘people living with albinism.’ That message needs to be made well known. And they must all be accepted. We are all one.”
“So, let us not see them as spiritual people. Let us accept them. Let us not be discriminate them in terms of job opportunities, in terms of relationships like marriage. Let them not be discriminated in the political arena. Let a person living with albinism not come to aspire for an elective position to only beingdenied on the basis of them being a person living with albinism.”
Hawanatu Dumbuya, a hairdresser in Freetown, said that in her own household, she grew up with three people living with albinism. She is ashamed to even state some of the myths and misconceptions that people say about albinism. “We grew up together. I saw nothing different between myself and them. We should not discriminate. The color of the skin may look different, but we live the same life.”
01/03/2021. ISSUE NO: 8011