The art of Albinism: Golden boy by Tara Sullivan

THE ART OF ALBINISM 

When Habo ponders at the beginning of the novel (Golden boy by Tara Sullivan), we're made to see the challenges of having an albino’s skin:

“I wish I could see their faces, but my eyes aren’t good enough for that this far away. I peel off my long-sleeved shirt and my floppy hat with the cloth sewn onto the back and crawl to the edge of the ridge in nothing but my long pants. My skin burns so easily that I could never do this in the middle of the day, no matter how hot it was, but now that the sun is setting I can enjoy the feeling of the wind whispering over me…”

He points to his burning skin, and how he dreads the sun, he has to wear a hat and long pants to protect himself, his shaking eyes affects his sight and he was considered different from his two brothers who had warm brown colours. Habo is a thirteen year old albino boy wondering why he was white in this black, brown world. Asu his sister recounts the story of his birth to him. That he was born on a sunny day and The old men thought he was a ghost of the ancestors. The mkunga (midwife) wailed that he was probably from demons. While his own father ignorantly figured that he was the son of one of the white men who came to climb Mount Kilimanjaro or take a safari. Whatever it was, the descriptions were unfair for a new born white baby. Everyone left him on the floor, no one wanted to touch him. Asu was the only one that carried him and called him “Dhahabo” golden boy and so he was named. Throughout the story, only a few people did see him as a golden boy most of the characters he related to saw him as a ghost or zeruzeru, a zombie. The first instance was when he lost the goats, Enzi pointed at him and said “That stupid ghost boy lost our goats" Enzi particularly blames him for their father's death insisting that since their father died shortly after Habo was born, definitely, Habo was a spirit, bad fortune. 

Is albinism really a crime? 

When they prepared to leave home to Mwanza, Habo looked at his hands while packing his clothes and questioned why his hands was not black and slender like Asu’s. Not black and stumpy like Chui’s. Not black and calloused like Mother’s. His own hands were Milk white. Bone white. Ghost white.

and the people kept saying: Raziya (Habo’s mother) gave birth to a white son, not a good brown child like the three born before him, but white. White like ugali in the pot; white like the teeth in your face; white like a tourist who isn’t where he should be… They set for the journey to Mwanza, the city where death sook him. The city where he found Alasiri, the albino hunter, the city that taught him to be a a man and find himself a home. Mwanza is a direct representation of the choking universe Albinos wade through and Alasiri represented albino traffickers who used albino body parts to earn a fortune, bloody fortune!. Alasiri was after Habo’s life to kill him and sell him to a spiritualist who wanted to use an albino's body part for his pot of charms. Habo ran away from home, from his mother, his auntie that refered to him as an abomination in her house, he ran from his brothers Enzi and Chui, who believed Habo shouldn't go to school and the author of the words “You look like a ghost and you do as little work as a ghost.” Habo also ran from Asu, a sister he loved but unknowningly betrayed his location to Alasiri while gossiping at work and he ran from Alasiri, the albino hunter. While he was on the run, he moved to Dar es Salaam a city that gave him home, and magnifying glasses and a sense of purpose and a representation of enlightened people who accepted albinism as a normal trait and understood that it was from the gene of both parents, not a mistake or an evil spirit. Habo met Kweli a blind sculptor that saw Habo as the black golden boy that he was (through the eyes of his mind). Kweli reminds Habo that he has every right to desire to be seen in his true form. He told him “There are people who aren’t ready yet to see your worth, whole cities of them, whole countries of them,

but someday they will.” Kweli helped Habo to get Alasiri arrested by the police and Asu finally found Habo, her golden boy who has turned a man ready to come to terms with his identity. Tara Sullivan reminds us in her own words: albinos have no magical powers and should be treated with respect and human dignity. You can choose to always treat those who look different from you with respect and kindness. Positive changes in the attitude of the world only happen one interaction at a time. 

Be that one person.

Love an albino.

-Jesunifemi  

-Jekphrasa 

-Orcas press

Visit Jekphrasa.blogspot.com 

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