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Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Reporter

SAD tales of people living with albinism are painful and disturbing.

More often than not, harsh words are used against them hence depression and frustration stemming from discrimination is inevitable.

Some face discrimination and victimisation by their own relatives and families and within their respective communities.

Ms Marvelous Tshuma (24) of Binga is no exception. She has experienced ridicule and glaring discrimination from her early childhood.

She had to move away from home because relatives and some members of the community were causing conflict and rifts because of myths and beliefs around her skin colour.

Ms Tshuma had to quickly come to terms with the reality of being rejected and moved to Gokwe with her sister in 2011.

Moving from Binga to Gokwe did not make it any better either.

“I moved from Binga to Gokwe to stay with my sister and her mother-in-law who loathed me with a passion and called me names. She would go as far as throwing away anything I touched or used. I struggled with depression and I always asked myself why I had to be an albino,” she said.

Each time she recalls her high school days, Ms Tshuma is haunted by statements of her sister’s mother in-law, who repeatedly yelled at her: “You are an albino, what exactly do you want here? We don’t want to end up with many albinos in our area.”

She had to be adopted by her teacher who eventually took her to Chinhoyi upon being transferred. Ms Tshuma continued her Ordinary and Advanced Level studies in Chinhoyi.

“I moved from my sister’s home in Gokwe and stayed with a teacher who was very sympathetic to my situation. When she transferred to Chinhoyi she took me along and that is where I completed my O and A-level studies,” said Ms Tshuma.

What she went through and challenges faced by people living with albinism spurred her into launching a campaign to help the community of people living with albinism in Zimbabwe.

Ms Tshuma is a co-founder of Noble Hands Zimbabwe Trust, a charity organisation that helps orphans, widows and people living with disabilities.

She recently launched Albinism Connect Campaign, which is aimed at reaching out to people.

Through the campaign, which is set to be rolled out in all provinces, I seek to economically empower people living with albinism and assist them with school fees. The programme also seeks to mobilise funds to assist people living with albinism to secure sunglasses, hats, sunscreen lotion among other requirements.

“We launched this Albinism Connect Campaign last month in response to the plight of albinos and their daily challenges. In fact, when we visited a school in Manjolo in Binga to donate reusable pads as Noble Hands Trust, the headmaster indicated to us that they had a pupil living with albinism,” she said.

“We were told that the pupil didn’t come to school because it was too hot given that she walks three kilometres to school. We then visited the girl at her home and I was so touched when I noticed that her skin was horrible and she was sunburnt and she had lots of blisters on her skin, which are in most cases a sign of cancer.”

Ms Tshuma said that is when it crossed her mind that, out of Noble Hands Zimbabwe Trust, they could launch a special programme targeting people with albinism.

“This is what we are doing now and we are launching Albinism Connect Campaign in every province. We want to help them with protective clothes, sunscreen and aqueous creams and sun hats. We are moving around the provinces assisting these people especially in areas with high temperatures such as Gokwe, Binga and Beitbridge,” she said.

Ms Tshuma said they have since compiled a database with each province having a co-ordinator for the programme.

Noble Hands Zimbabwe Trust was officially registered in July and so far, they have managed to distribute face masks, sanitisers and breakfast hampers to streets kids throughout the country.

Ms Tshuma said they have partnered other organisations and individuals who are coming in to assist. The organisation is also using various social media platforms as such Twitter and Facebook to mobilise resources.

Using her Twitter name “The Queen of Batonga (Marve Tee Official)”, Ms Tshuma has managed to secure donor funding from well-wishers.

Born in a family of nine and being the only child with albinism, Ms Tshuma, who firmly believes in standing up for the rights of people living with albinism, also narrated how she narrowly escaped death at birth.

“I was born three days after my grandfather’s death. He was a chief and held very strong African beliefs. My parents told me I was very lucky because my grandfather would have not tolerated or accepted me. I would have easily been labelled a curse in the family and would have been killed at birth,” she said.

Growing up, her parents were extremely overprotective of her and provided for all her needs. Fortunately, her siblings did not discriminate against her either.

“At school I had challenges as you know kids will always be kids so they didn’t want to associate with me and they would mock me such that I ended up avoiding people. Even when going to fetch water I would deliberately avoid mingling with crowds,” she said

Ms Tshuma said the major challenges faced by people living with albinism revolved around their skin and eyesight.
She said at one point, she almost quit school because of her poor eyesight that adversely affected her progress as her parents could not afford to take her to an optician.

“I know the major challenges that people living with albinism face as part of their day-to-day struggles. The problem of eyesight is another major problem and I remember when I was doing Grade Four, I had to stop going to school because of eye cramps and it was quite a painful experience staying in hospital for about three months,” said Ms Tshuma.

Since the Albinism Connect Campaign started last month, Ms Tshuma said they have so far managed to assist four people.

“We helped to get a donor for a child in Chivhu and a certain woman in Lupane to get radiotherapy. The Lupane woman had a wound on the neck due to the effects of the sun. In fact, a neck is too soft and to us if it is exposed to the sun, the tissues get easily damaged,” she said.

Ms Tshuma said they have also managed to source money for a Masvingo woman who had a blister to enable her to travel to Harare where she is now being attended to at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals.

“We also secured donor for two brothers with albinism and they are also at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals for radiotherapy. We have also secured more than 1 000 sun hats that we are in the process of distributing across the country as part of our campaign. On 30 January 2021 we are launching the programme in Harare,” she said.

“I grew up seeing albinos struggling and what is even more worrisome is that people with albinism are not being accorded due respect in our communities. A friend of mine with albinism was assaulted by her husband and she lost one eye,” said Ms Tshuma.

She said it was for this reason that she felt she has an obligation to stand up for the rights of people living with albinism.

“I am trying to empower people with albinism so that they can be able to economically sustain themselves and desist from this syndrome of depending on donors,” she said. -@mashnets