"That's Why I Say Africans Are Cursed"

Dear “Under The Same Sun”

I am a 28 year old man and a father of two. I am Zimbabwean. I have been following up albino news of BBC and have found your website link on BBC website.

My father was an albino and he died of cancer when he was nearing 50. Throughout my childhood I grew up an angry boy. I was angry with life. I have asked god several times why he had to make my father the way he was, not that I didn’t love him but I felt pity for him. I remember vividly how children and people would make fun of my father. He has been called names such as “murungu”(white man),”musupe”(an insulting word for albino), ‘nguruve”(pig) amongst other names. Every time he would be humiliated and insulted he would look down and proceed living life like everything was normal.

I remember as a young boy wishing that my father dies , so he can rest from all the torture. There were light days when we would sit as a family after supper and he would narrate his life stories. He spoke of the way he managed to defy all the odds and go to school. He spoke of how his family decided to deny him school fees and how he would work during holidays to get school fees and further his education. He told us of how he struggled to get a job because of his condition, despite being more educated than others at the time. He told us of how he met our mother (my mother is not an albino , but she is crippled).As I look back now and recall all he has told us, I can justifiably summarize it as STRUGGLE.

Due to ignorance of my fellow Africans, my father like most albinos toiled the land like others with no protection from the sun. He struggled with cancer for more than 10 years. The last ten were more painful. Cancer had grown to huge wounds on his stomach and at times he would bleed profusely and collapse due to loss of blood. I remember how he was discriminated against at work(my father for the better part of his life worked as a painter for the Ministry of Transport).

As I stood by his grave side, I asked myself how he could have died without living? If you would call struggling and suffering through everyday life then he died but if it is not life then he rested. I have never suffered in my life the way I did when my father passed away. Even though he is not here today, I know he lived his life a brave man and for that I salute him.

The other day I shed tears for an albino man who had no shoes and wore tattered clothes. He had this sack on his shoulder which seemed like a sack of belongings. It was about to rain and the guy had looked like he had no clue where he was going or coming from. I could see struggle written all over the guy's face and I could see he had given up on humanity, for we had given him up. We let him suffer at the merciless hand of nature. I asked myself what would become of him? It's been four years and I still remember this guy and, up to now, I wonder what became of him? I blame myself for not acting when I could have at least consoled him and let him know he was not alone.

I look back to the days my father was alive and wish I had told him I loved him more than anything on earth. I regret not standing up for him, even in the smallest possible way.

I have read about Tanzania and other African countries and realized that the biggest problem albinos have is not their albinism, but the environment they are exposed to. The biggest problem they have is the ignorance of us their fellow humans. What we need to do, besides assisting them where we can, is assist our fellow beings with the knowledge that THESE ARE PEOPLE TOO! If we could only look more than skin deep, we would realize that they are humans like all of us. We would realize that it is not a matter of choice. We would realize that this person could just as easily be our child, brother, you or me. If we only take time to reflect on life, we come to the conclusion that they too have a right to live under this sun. They too are entitled to education, they too need protection and they too need a fare share of life. We live “UNDER THE SAME SUN.”

With clenched fists, I write this letter to you, angry with humanity and above all, angry with my fellow Africans. It is this same stupidity that got us colonized. You ask the Tanzanian government to punish those murderers to the fullest extent of law....I say kill the killers. Let there be no thinking twice about that. If we fail to protect them, if we fail to educate ourselves, if we fail to restrain our kids from insulting them.....then there is no hope for this continent.

I write to you today, thanking you for your efforts in assisting fellow human beings. I often say, in life there is no greater cause for living, there is no more noble cause for existing than that of helping the under privileged. I know that as you read this email, God is smiling at your efforts. You have given hope to the hopeless, you have spoken for the voiceless, you have saved innocent lives and above all have sacrificed your time and your money and have followed your heart to try and do good to the people deserving the most.

May you please keep doing the good work and may GOD bless you.

Regards,
JM from Zimbabwe