By Eric Lattif via FB
I have seen a number of comments, including here, castigating Senator Mwaura’s frontline role in Goldalyn’s current publicity blitz. Whereas I also cannot confess to know his inner motives, I beg to differ with those thinking that he should be told off.
Mr Mwaura, by virtue of his nomination to parliament and his public profile, has elevated the status of persons living with albinism in this country. He and Justice Mumbi Ngugi have made almost everybody in this country see albinism as not a debilitating disability, but that people living with the condition are just like the rest of society in every aspect bar their skin condition.
Mwaura has exposed the nation to albinism and shown us that they, too, are able, they talk like us, they reason like us, they have dreams and aspirations like us, they fall in love like us, they get married like us and they make mistakes just like us.
To a great extent, Mwaura was the person that came to mind to many Kenyans when they heard that this year’s KCPE top student has albinism. Because of seeing and hearing him, we all could relate with her. This time, unlike perhaps 10 years ago, not many people saw her pictures and asked mental questions – was she in a special school, did she sit a special exam, does she require special treatment, can she see properly, etc.
Hon. Mwaura, Justice Ngugi and now Goldalyn are shuttering the myths, beliefs, superstitions and questions that hitherto hung on the shoulders of persons living with albinism.
