A Zvishavane man, Emmanuel Nyoni, abandoned his family after his wife gave birth to two children with albinism.
Nyoni blamed his wife, Polite Charles, for giving birth to children with the condition and has since left his family.
Charles told The Guiding Star that her marriage collapsed after her husband and in-laws failed to accept the children. She said:
I’ve two children with albinism and this caused a lot of family misunderstandings, my in-laws couldn’t accept albino children in their family so my husband left me.
He left on 14 April last year and I’m back home to my biological parents. They’re okay with my albino children.
The founder and executive director of Albino Charity Organisation of Zimbabwe (ACOZ), Loveness Mainato said there is a need to educate communities about albinism and the cause of the condition.
Speaking to The Guiding Star, Mainato said the lack of knowledge on the cause of albinism results in segregation and emotional victimisation of persons with albinism. She said:
Segregation against people with albinism is what our organisation is fighting against.
The community is not well informed about this condition of albinism, they find it easy to lay all the blame on the mother of the children yet albinism originates from both parents’ genetic make-ups, linked to family generations.
We are continuing with lessons to end segregation towards albinism, currently, we’re seized with community-based workshops in which we’re educating the communities.
Also in order to relieve challenges and reduce violence against those with albinism, we’re helping them with body lotions.
According to the National Organisation for Albinism and Hypo-pigmentation, albinism is a group of genetic conditions that cause a lack of black pigment in the skin.
The focal person for the Association of the Disabled and Elderly Persons in Zimbabwe (ADEPZ), Primrose Nyangoni, said:
There is a need to change this wrong mindset that the mother is responsible for albinism, this condition originates genetically from the combined genetic make-ups of both parents.
It’s grossly unfair for a spouse to leave another spouse because of a child born with albinism.
The misconception here is that the community thinks albinism is a curse to a parent from either God or ancestors.
Albinism is just a genetic condition, genes are passed from one generation to the other, we never know maybe this husband is the one with these genes of albinism.
This is not a disease but a condition that we must learn to accept and live with as parents, family, and community as a whole.