Hello fellow beauty lovers.
Diandra Forrest is on a mission to change the perception of albinism in Africa. So are her fellow model colleagues Refilwe Modiselle, Thando Hopa and Shaun Ross. They all are successful albino models and determined to make a change. Although Shaun and Diandra were born and raised in the USA, Thando Hopa and Refilwe Modiselle actually grew up in South Africa. Diandra Forrest stated in an interview with Huffington Post that she was used to coming home crying because she was bullied and picked on at school for her looks. But this is nothing compared to what albinos have to endure in Africa. And although the four of them lived separate and different lives, they all feel responsible and more importantly able to really make a change in this world concerning the perception of albinos.
You see, in some parts of Africa, mainly East Africa, individuals with albinism are sometimes seen as a curses or devil’s spawns. And on the extreme contrary to this, others think that their limbs and body parts enhance the effect of potions and voodoo rituals. There have been even cases in which body parts of albinos where found buried below businesses because the owners believed this to really make the business prosper. According to an UN-report, 71 albinos were murdered in Tanzania between 2006 and 2012. 17 were killed in Burundi, 7 in Kenya and 3 in Swaziland.
The problem stems from the conviction that albinos are subhumans, something unnatural that carries a curse or is a creature from hell. In some parts of Africa, mainly in rural areas, it is widely rooted in the people’s minds that violence against albinos is accepted and that is in my opinion unacceptable.
That is why it is so crucial for albino models to take the lead and be the role models on billboards, runways and in commercial shoots to show the people out there that albinism is nothing devilish. It’s natural. People have to see that albinos are people just like everybody else, who deserve respect and equality. Nowadays models with albinism have a unique platform to show that their appearance is indeed extraordinary. Extraordinarily beautiful. Whilst it is still a very long way to go, it’s inspiring to see that such an important message is being shouted into the world and backed by a whole industry that usually is known for being shallow and superficial.
Yours truly,
Lana Hoang
Copyright and Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-20096144, http://metispeople.livejournal.com/7467.html and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/16/albino-models-africa_n_2488212.html
