Suhuyini Sulemana Seidu, a disability advocate, has learned to hold his head up. But it took years of pain to get there.
Growing up with albinism in Ghana was not easy. He was bullied. He was beaten. And the people who hurt him most were sometimes the ones closest to him.
“I’ve been bullied, I’ve been beaten for no wrong done. I have been stigmatized, discriminated,” he said in an exclusive interview with Voices of Concern.
Even friendships carried a sting. Some of his peers would pinch his skin repeatedly, fascinated by the way it changed color under pressure. For them, it was entertainment. For him, it was humiliation.
“My friends found it exciting, pinching me, so as a result I used to isolate myself,” he said.
School brought its own struggles. He found it difficult to copy notes and keep up in class. And when it came to friendships with girls, the reality was blunt. Some would refuse to take a photograph with him because of his skin color. Others approached him out of curiosity rather than genuine connection.
But the threat Suhuyini describes goes far beyond social rejection.
On the streets of Ghana, strangers have made remarks that chilled him. Comments about taking him to Tanzania. To Senegal. He knows what those words mean.
“Apparently they want to sell you,” he said. “Every person is at risk of being captured to be used for some different purposes.”
Across parts of Africa, people with albinism are hunted for their body parts, which are used in ritual practices. It is a reality that makes everyday life dangerous for people like Suhuyini.
“Persons with albinism, we are at a high risk,” he said.
Yet despite all of it, Suhuyini Sulemana Seidu stands firm in who he is.
“God has never made a mistake before and he will never make a mistake,” he said. “So I’m proud of being a person with albinism and if I have the opportunity to be a person again, being a person with albinism is not a bad idea.”
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