{"id":618,"date":"2013-12-09T07:21:54","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T06:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/blogs\/english\/?p=618"},"modified":"2013-12-09T07:21:54","modified_gmt":"2013-12-09T06:21:54","slug":"burundi-albinos-discrimination-a-sad-situation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/burundi-albinos-discrimination-a-sad-situation\/","title":{"rendered":"Burundi Albinos\u2019 discrimination a sad situation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Albinos are still excluded and rejected in their families and community. They need to be treated like other human beings because they are people like others.-<\/strong>By Yves Didier Irakoze<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Nathalie<\/a>

Nathalie Muco: \u201cAlbino women are more despised in the community. They are often chased out by their families because they are considered as evil beings, especially when they fall in love with one member of the family and get married to him. Then, people should be sensitized about eradicating this immoral mentality of discrimination.\u201d\u00a9Iwacu<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/em><\/strong>Burundian society is still lagging behind considering the way albinos are treated and involved in various institutions comparing to what is happening in the neighbouring countries. According to Nathalie Muco, Chairperson of \u201cAlbinos Women Association Hope\u201d, albinos are not accepted in their community. They are vulnerable, lonely, unemployed, assaulted, kidnapped or killed, weak and their security leaves to desire. They are persecuted and considered as worthless, unable to achieve anything important in the society. \u201cAlbino women are more despised in the community. They are often chased out by their families because they are considered as evil beings, especially when they fall in love with one member of the family and get married to him. Then, people should be sensitized about eradicating this immoral mentality of discrimination,\u201d deplores Muco. Eug\u00e8ne Nsabayezu, Coordinator of \u201cBurundi Disabled People Association Network\u201d (RAPHB), mentions that despite the problem of discrimination, they have a problem of health because of their skin. \u201cBecause of the lack of melanin -a substance that protects their skin- they are often exposed to skin cancer because of the sun; thus, they should be protected,\u201d highlights Nsabayezu. He also mentions that they are perceived negatively in the society; there are pre-conceived ideas that they are ghosts always associated to spiritual evils, source of bad luck in families and consequently, they are afraid of going to public places as they want to avoid to being harmed or sacrificed.<\/p>\n

Hence, they prefer to remain at home.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mwimba Texas, an albino from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), points out those albino women are really undergoing many problems.
\n\u201cIn DRC, a man with HIV\/AIDS thinks that if he makes love with an albino woman, he is healed; it\u2019s very sad and can you imagine how albinos are exposed? Albinos are also considered as people who bring chance following the society, that\u2019s why they are sometimes killed or their bodies\u2019 part cut off,\u201d regrets Mwimba.<\/p>\n

Things should change<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Hakizimana Nicod\u00e8me, an albino from Rwanda, in his country, the government works hard to protect albinos and integrate them in education through an inclusive education program though in some schools, albino students still face some problems of being rejected or beaten by their classmates. That is the reason why their number has decreased in different classes. According to Mwimba, albinos must accept themselves to be accepted. Then, they have to work hard and not beg. They have to be unified and really show that they are able to do important things like other people. \u201cThough albinos are underestimated, they are able to achieve great things. I am an African Champion in Catch Wrestling. I have won 650 times in different championships and I am planning to organize a championship in Burundi next year,\u201d he declares. He adds that in DRC, the government starts to support people with disabilities including albinos and give them opportunities to take part in various institutions. Muco calls upon Burundi government to support albinos from Burundi like in other neighbouring countries. The government must ensure their full rights of living. Moreover, people should avoid any kind of rejection, mistreatment or discrimination towards albinos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Albinos are still excluded and rejected in their families and community. They need to be treated like other human beings because they are people like others.-By Yves Didier Irakoze Burundian society is still lagging behind considering the way albinos are treated and involved in various institutions comparing to what is happening in the neighbouring countries. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[57,444],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}