AFRICANEWS
South AfricaThe agony of being an albinoTOPIC: Societyby Patrick Chapita (502 words)
Like many other college students, Peter Hatikuri looked forward to a bright future in his country Zimbabwe after acquiring a diploma in hotel and catering at a local commercial college. But that was not to be: Hatikuri is an albino and unfortunately no establishment in the food and catering industry is prepared to engage him as an employee. Personnel managers claim that his skin colour would turn off customers. Tired of that discrimination, Hatikuri packed his bags and joined the bandwagon of other Zimbabwean professionals who are trekking to South Africa hoping the market there would be more accommodating. Unfortunately, the same problems persisted and no job was forthcoming. "All the fast-food outlets I visited looking for a job in Johannesburg and Pretoria told me that I was unsuitable for employment because my condition as an albino," laments 19 year-old Hatikuri. Hatikuri says that albinos are discriminated against in employment and can never get jobs as chefs, waiters or food salesmen because employers think that their customers would not like the food that albinos handle. "Albinos are looked down upon as if their skin condition is contagious - something akin to leprosy", he complains. Despite his diploma, Hatikuri is now a farm labourer in eastern Transvaal. "Right now I am doing something I was not prepared for. I have no choice - I am doing this just to make a living as back home in Zimbabwe, there are no jobs". Psychologist, Christopher Andy, says that discrimination against albinos is common in southern Africa but governments are trying to have albinos accorded the same status as all other people. "There is nothing bad in employing an albino. Albinos are just like any other people bar their reduced skin pigmentation," he points out. He adds that albino children face discrimination even in their homes as their parents are ashamed of them. Some albino children run away from home and end up becoming street children. The general manager of a Johannesburg fast-foods outlet says that it is customers' perceptions that force them not to hire albinos. He said that he recently had to sack an albino waiter because customers were uneasy with food served by him. Business was going down as people shied away from my establishment. Illiterate albino women are also facing similar problems since they can not get jobs as domestic workers. Grace Mogosti of Soweto says that, "People twist their faces at you when you ask them to employ you as a domestic worker. Nobody will listen to you if you are an albino." The southern Africa nation of Zimbabwe is taking concrete steps to ensure that albinos are not discriminated against in the marketplace. An organisation called the Zimbabwe Albino Association (ZAA) seeks to sensitise people on the plight of albinos. ZAA is headed by a University of Zimbabwe lecturer, Dr. John Makumbe who is an albino. Similar groups are being planned in neighbouring Botswana, Zambia and South Africa where albinos are campaigning for their rights as full human beings.
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