Celebrate beauty but above all tolerance. Friday evening March 16, in a nightclub in Harare, Zimbabwe, was held the first Miss albino election, “Beauty beyond prejudice”. Through this competition, a fight against discrimination and violence to which people suffering from this pathology are victims.
“When I was little, most people avoided me, they thought they would turn white overnight,” Monalissa Manyati told AFP. “The children laughed at me in the street, the men hooted at me”, continues the young woman, elected second runner-up among 12 candidates at the end of the evening.
“I hope that my victory will give strength to the little girls”
The big winner of the evening is Sithembiso Mutukura, a 22-year-old student. “We always disdain people with a disability, even at school. I had a lot of trouble, but I want people with albinism to be courageous and persevere. We have to defend our rights and I hope that my victory will give life. force to little girls. People with disabilities should not underestimate themselves, “she told AFP.
Albinism is a genetic disease characterized by a partial or complete absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes. In Zimbabwe, it affects some 40,000 people out of 16 million inhabitants. Most people with albinism are stigmatized.
In neighboring countries like Malawi, Mozambique or Tanzania, every year dozens are attacked, amputated or killed. Their limbs are then used for rituals believed to bring wealth and luck.
The organizer of the evening, Brenda Mudzimu hopes that this beauty contest will find an echo. She dreams of the event becoming annual in Zimbabwe and then being exported throughout Africa before reaching the four corners of the world “.
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