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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Albinism

June 2024

  • K-Zungu at Sisso Records, Dar es Salaam

    ‘I am their voice now’: the Tanzanian rapper with a mission to spread pride in his own colour

    K-Zungu, an up and coming singeli artist with albinism, says he was lucky to have a protective family because so many with the condition in Africa have not been so fortunateWords and photographs by Diego Menjíbar Reynés in Dar es Salaam

September 2023

  • Musician John Chiti in Lusaka, Zambia.

    ‘A fire inside me’: the Zambian singer who overcame prejudice to change attitudes to albinism

    John Chiti was spurned by his father and survived a brutal attack for his body parts, but changed his life with music. His story is the inspiration for a powerful new Netflix drama

February 2023

  • A Malawian woman with albinism in rural Nkole, Machinga district, April 2015

    A common condition
    ‘We live in fear because of our skin’: Malawians with albinism demand action to reduce cancer risk

    Lack of access to sunscreen, diagnosis and treatment is failing a population that is increasingly vulnerable to skin cancer in a heating climate

June 2022

  • An apprehensive-looking girl and an older woman in traditional dress sit in a hut

    Witch-hunts and ritual child abuse are a stain on Africa. We must confront them

    Joan Nyanyuki
    Thousands of children accused of witchcraft suffer ritual abuse every year – and those with albinism are the main victims

February 2022

  • Albinism project by Maroussia Mbaye.

    Women behind the lens
    Women behind the lens: raising awareness of albinism in west Africa

    People with albinism across Africa face the harsh sun as well as social exclusion and suspicion. Photographer Maroussia Mbaye hopes to bring greater understanding through her work

November 2021

  • Overstone Kondowe in Malawi’s parliament in Lilongwe after being sworn in as an MP. He calls himself ‘an overambitious person – that’s why I had the courage to contest.’

    Malawian campaigner makes history as country’s first elected MP with albinism

    Overstone Kondowe’s election hailed as ‘giant step forward’ in continent where people with albinism face stigma and attacks

October 2020

  • Barcelona, Spain, 2004. Ana is 52 years old. She lives with her son in Barcelona and works in the administration department of a theatre company. Since the time of the “movida española” in the 80s she has loved dressing up. She is well known in her neighborhood (Raval) and attracts the attention of many photographers and filmmakers. Occasionally she accepts posing for photography and video sessions but only if it interests her.

    My best shot
    Ana, a woman with albinism, in Barcelona: Paola de Grenet's best photograph

    ‘I set up a fan to create movement with her hair. But Ana already had a great look – she always wears that shade of lipstick’

September 2019

  • Young Tanzanians, some with albinism, in a photography workshop this summer.

    'We are not ghosts' – Tanzania's people with albinism turn the lens on their lives

    A group of young people with albinism, used to abandonment and attack, are using photography to give them a place in society

May 2019

  • Lazarus Chigwandali at the 2019 Tribeca film festival in New York.

    Lazarus: the Malawian busker overturning prejudice about albinism

    Madonna called him ‘a powerful voice of a new generation’ – but musician Lazarus Chigwandali is still coming to terms with hearing himself on record for the first time

February 2019

  • Malian musician Salif Keita, in Paris.

    Salif Keita: ‘Democracy is not a good thing for Africa’

    The ‘golden voice of Africa’ has just released his final album. And though he is visibly tired, he is still in love with his guitar

January 2019

  • Graphic artist Camille Walala and her collaborator Julia Jomaa sit alongside residents of Ukerewe on a brightly coloured water towe

    Tanzanians with albinism embrace a life beyond stigma and superstition

    In a country where myths about albinism can have deadly consequences, an organisation set up to battle discrimination is having a profound impact

June 2018

  • Cassim Jaffalie,3, stands with his friends at their family home in this Monday, May, 23, 2016 photo in Machinga about 200 kilometres north east of Blantyre Malawi.His father Razik Jaffalie gave up his work as a bicycle taxi operator to protect his son in a country where there has been an increase in albinism attacks. At least 18 Albino people have been killed in Malawi in a “steep upsurge in killings” since November 2014, and five others have been abducted and remain missing, a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday, June 7, 2016 says. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

    Six people with albinism will stand for election to fight stigma in Malawi

    Candidates hope to combat sharp rise in killings of people with albinism, whose body parts are used in ritual practices

October 2017

  • Sanele Junior Xaba

    Sanele Junior Xaba: ‘I take pride in my albinism’

    Sanele Junior Xaba has already modelled for Adidas and appeared in GQ. It’s a long way from being bullied on the streets of Durban. Now he’s fighting for diversity in his trade, and wants to raise awareness of albinism

August 2017

  • ‘We never thought people would actually hear us sing’ … from left, Elias Sostines, Teleza Finias, Riziki Julias and Amidu Didas.

    Feared, ostracised and murdered: how music saved the Tanzania Albinism Collective

    They are persecuted in their home country. But music is now changing their lives. Meet the Tanzanians who play with sledgehammers, chant in Swahili – and dance till they drop

October 2016

  • A contestant walks down the catwalk in her own creation.

    Guardian Africa network
    Kenya hosts world's first albino beauty pageant

    Contest in Nairobi aimed at fighting back against persecution in east Africa, where albino body parts are sold on black market

June 2016

  • Cassim Jaffalie,3, stands with his friends at their family home in this Monday, May, 23, 2016 photo in Machinga about 200 kilometres north east of Blantyre Malawi.His father Razik Jaffalie gave up his work as a bicycle taxi operator to protect his son in a country where there has been an increase in albinism attacks. At least 18 Albino people have been killed in Malawi in a “steep upsurge in killings” since November 2014, and five others have been abducted and remain missing, a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday, June 7, 2016 says. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

    Blogging students
    'Look at her hair' – I wish albinism didn't make people stare

    Most students have no idea how tough university life can be if you have albinism. International Awareness Day gives us the chance to tell our story and shift attitudes

October 2015

  • Baraka Cosmas from Tanzania dances along as a video plays on a computer in the Staten Island borough of New York

    Tanzania: children with albinism receive new limbs after vicious witchcraft attacks – in pictures

    Children with albinism who lost limbs in appalling attacks perpetrated by exponents of black magic in Tanzania receive prosthetics in the US

August 2015

  • Baraka Lusamb, 5, learns to use a prosthetic limb at Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia

    Two boys attacked for being albino given new prosthetic limbs – video

    Baraka Lusambo, 5, and Mwigulu Matonange, 12, learn to use their new prosthetic limbs after a brutal attack in Tanzania

June 2015

  • Four albino sisters, from L-R, Iveily, Donilcia, Jade and Yaisseth Morales, who are part of the albino or "Children of the Moon" group in the Guna Yala indigenous community, pose for a photograph with their mother, brothers and sisters outside their house on Ustupu Island in the Guna Yala region, Panama

    From the agencies
    Panama's albino 'children of the moon' – in pictures

    For years, albino people born on a cluster of islands off Panama’s Caribbean coast have been venerated as ‘children of the moon’

May 2015

  • albino 10

    Albinism in Tanzania: slow progress in combatting violence and discrimination

    Albinos live with the risk of being killed, their body parts fetching high prices for witchcraft - but NGOs hope that change is coming
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