Today being International Albinism Awareness day, people with albinism both male and female still face challenges in today’s world as they carry out their tasks and associate with other people.
During an interview with Mike Maliba aka Omusungu wa Baleka ,West Media employee urged parents with children with albinism to allow them get education for their own good citing that if his parents were mean perhaps he wouldn’t be where he is right now.
He used the opportunity to appreciate organizations both government and non-government or private sectors for recognizing them by offering them job opportunities like other Kenyans.
He also told people with albinism not to despair, not to feel like they are lesser human beings but to also come out and fight for their rights, engage in various activities for their daily needs and stop crying foul of being sidelined and yet they are not coming out to fight for what is theirs.
“My fellow people with albinism stop living as if you are not meant to be in this world, let us not give other people a reason to say that we are not like them, come out let us fight for our rights, these other people you see with black skin and think that are better off let me tell you they are also going through challenges in fact more than what we go through, therefore let us rise up and accept ourselves the way we were created and I think by acceptance we shall do our things without seeking sympathy,” said Maliba
He cited a number of leaders with albinism who he said their parents stood out and knew that education is an equalizer and gave them what other children are given hence making them rise to such positions.
“Personally, if my parents never allowed me to go to school and decided to hide me I wouldn’t be here now, look at Webuye East MP, Martin Pepela Wanyonyi, the first elected MP in the world as a person with albinism, look at Hon. Timothy Aseka nominated MCA in the County Assembly of Kakamega, Hon. Isaac Mwaura nominated Senator, our girl Goldalyn Kakuya who was a top pupil in the 2017 KCPE exams, if at all their parents hid them and never exposed them to the world of education they couldn’t be holding such powerful positions in the society, so who are you to hide your child just because he/ she was born with albinism?” He wondered
Sylvia Wasikhuyu said women with albinism are no lesser women to make wives, they should also be considered like other women but the sad part is when men seduce them they want to establish whether they are the same as other women with no albinism. They find themselves in love issues and get children later dumped by the said men.
She lamented also how the government and human rights organizations give a deaf ear to their problems. She said when they visit offices to get assistance to compel deadbeat dads to their children nobody listens to them, even if they go to courts the culprits are summoned but never obey the summon and nothing is completely done. Therefore, she wondered why the law in Kenya does not fully protect them as other Kenyans.
She went ahead telling other Kenyans not to treat them like non-human beings because they also have feelings to love and hate, to be happy and get disappointed when not handled well.
“You can imagine when I was pregnant people could stand, look at me and ask themselves who made this paged? Such sentiments are so demeaning, why do people think that we cannot be impregnated and give birth like other women? And these men who come to us in the name of love, many we have discovered they just come to establish whether we are normal human beings and run away from us,” lamented Ms. Wasikhuyu
Ben Wekesa alias Obama from Kimabole Cheptais Sub County faulted Bungoma County government for not recognizing this day by holding a County event in celebrating people with albinism so that they could interact with others across the County as he urged Governor Ken Lusaka to set aside money in his budget to cater for them so that they may involve in projects to sustain their lives.
International Albinism Awareness day is observed annually on June 13. Albinism is a genetic condition which can lead to absence of melanin production in the human body.
The theme for 2023 International Albinism Awareness Day is “Inclusion is strength.” The theme focuses on the importance of inclusion of not just people of all races and ethnicities who are affected by albinism but also the young and old population.
