By Khaya Ndaba
Anneline Mathiba is proud of living with albinism.
She has created an organisation to empower those who have the same condition and spread awareness to those who don’t.
Without sponsorship or funding, she shows it is possible through hard work and faith in her mission to fight the stigma that is attached to people with albinism.
Mathiba is the founder of Proud Albinism, a modelling, entertainment and fashion platform.
The organisation seeks to build confidence in people living with albinism through their confidence building programmes and classes that teach both children and adults about their condition. They often face discrimination in their communities.
Albinism is an inherited genetic condition that prevents the body from producing enough colour, or melanin, to protect the skin from the sun.
Anneline’s Proud Albinism initiative is self-funded and solely depends on her pocket to keep afloat. She launched the initiative in 2019 at the MTN Taxi Rank, Johannesburg.
The amazing work the 33-year-old does has prompted a great reception which ultimately inspired her to do a fashion show. A first of its kind, strictly for models with albinism, it turned out to be a huge success.
She was also a part of the show Mama I Want the Black in You which opened at Johannesburg’s Market Theatre and tackled issues of discrimination in the albinism community.
Mathiba has recently partnered with Cape Town-based children’s author Shirley Gunn to distribute the book Understanding Albinism to primary schools and educate both learners and teachers about the condition of albinism.
“It’s important that learners know about ‘our’ condition. We don’t see well so children living with albinism need to sit upfront in class. Teachers must know that they must write in white chalk so they can see more clearly,“ Mathiba told Scrolla.Africa.
“And obviously we must limit the amount of time we spend in the sun, so teachers must be aware of this at school assembly.”
Mathiba plans on continuing her work in 2023 and developing more partnerships to provide eye care for people living with albinism.
Her intention is to find outside funding and donors to assist in her work and to do more campaigns to promote awareness in both albinism and disability.
Some populations in Southern Africa have prevalence rates of albinism as high as one in 1,000 people.
Pictured above: Anneline Mathiba teaching a class
Image source: Supplied
