Journey to NOAH CON 2016 : Meeting Tweens with albinism

My story of meeting the mother of and a tween with albinism is...memorable. There were so many sessions to attend and in the midst of my overload I wondered into the end of a session that focused on how to handle Street harassment. Ivy sat at the back of the room, I think we both kind of just wondered in late. 

I don't even remember how we struck up a conversation. I only remember us talking about the various violent reactions her daughter had to deal with due to the cruelty of other children.

I wont cower to tell you how shocked I was..how much it shook me learning about other kids breaking bottles over the head of this little girl who just wanted to go to school, learn and live....it hurt me.

I know what it feels like to be grabbed in the street without permission. It boiled my blood and ached my heart thinking of this girl much younger than I, who should only have to focused on deciding on what she wants to grow up to do and nurturing that growth, being cornered and having bottles broken over her head because she doesn't have as much pigment as her classmates.

It shocked me, this happening in America, not in Africa or China but in one of the states of a leading first world country. In a place that is known through media for being a place of freedom and acceptance a girl is holding her hands in the shadow of the day and dreaming about being darker so she can escape harm and simple exist free. She is breaking into tears because she is questioning her faith as God didn't answer her prayers about the colour of her skin in the morning when she woke up. I'm not even just talking about the girl in the picture any more, this is a real situation, real accounts but I am saying to you that it is not an isolated account. How do we change that?

Maybe we remember that we are more than skin colour, that we are more than #TeamLightSkin and more than #TeamDarkSkin, Maybe we remember that race is more than melanin, a lack or abundance of it. Perhaps we entertain that worth transcends physical tributes? Maybe if we did that we would stop convincing generation after generation that they should filter their self worth through the lens of superficial characteristics. Perhaps it would allow them to more quickly and readily see the unwavering value of personality, skill and contribution to society. That is my suggestion but that's a whole different story for a whole different day...

I had already taken a self defence class at the conference so I was able to share that with Ivy and encourage it for her daughter too. We bonded over the struggles of having to be guarded and protective over safety due to looking differently and strangely enough, over roti. Turns out My girl V is well acquainted with Indian heritage and knew all about roti so you know my Caribbean self was impressed!

I treasure V's friendship and can't wait till we meet again! Her daughter, whom we will affectionately call Peanut-Buttercup, is a beautiful strong girl blossoming into an amazing woman. Just over the course of the four days we spent at the conference I got to watch Buttercup go from talking with her head down to leaving her mother in the dust as she ran off to join her new friends.

I still remember looking over at V and hearing her say ' I lost my child for the first time' with a content smile bubbling up from her heart and spreading across her face.

Okay let me explain that so you don't get the impression that V is terrible, she is not.  Parents with albinism have no fear on the day to day of loosing their child with albinism. Let's face it, we stick out like gold bars in a sea of tomatoes, you just can't miss us. To 'lose' your child with albinism in a place where they are safe and with people who understand their struggles and will rejoice with them in their strength. To lose your child amongst people who will praise them simply for being and not for being different...it is a deeply emotional and unexpected joy afforded to us by the NOAH Conference.

In a world were everyone is always desperate to be seen this seems unimaginable the overwhelming joy of being able to simply...disappear from sight for a change. Even more so if you are a person of colour.

For us to disappear is a bit of a luxury. The NOAH conference put that luxury in our hands and said 'have fun' so we did.  When I share this with people who don't have albinism, who can easily disappear because they look just as the world expects them to so the world does not notice if they bow their head I get disbelieving looks. 'Why would you want that?' is what I am asked.

The truth is, we don't usually. I LOVE sharing life and experiences with people, you would know this if you've ever spoken to me. I wouldn't be writing this blog post if I simply wanted to disappear. Here is the harsh truth; we all have those moments, when we don't want to be kind, when we want to throw on a hat and an over sized t-shirt and simply fade into the masses consumed by our own uninterrupted self discovery. It might be rare, if you are more on the extroverted side like myself, but these moments do happen, we are all deserving of them but we don't all get to have them.

For many of us with albinism those moments are like finding a needle in a hay stack while having bad eyesight. A stroll down the side walk never goes unseen and barely goes without someone feeling like they have a right to comment on who you are, what you look like and what you should do with your life. No thank you, I know who I am, I know whose I am and I should not be made to defend that constantly when the rest of the world is not.

Peanut-Buttercup said this to me and know I will never forget it as long as I live 'I used to think I was the only one in the world and this weekend I was one in one thousand!' I had to put on a brave face y'all.  I used to think the same thing you see.  On my little Caribbean island at 11 years old I remember stealing myself against the isolation of being the only one that looked like me in the world. Accepting that I would never look to my left or right and see someone who looked like I did...

It didn't turn out that way for me and because of the NOAH Conference it didn't turn out that way for Peanut-buttercup either, thank God. The NOAH Conference was our opportunity to be a part of a community of rarity

Peanut-Buttercup is doing pretty good these days by all accounts, she's been out their joining groups, growing up and discovering herself safely and confidently with the aid of her amazing mother who, has taught her the art of a quick witted tongue and a no nonsense sense of self worth. V loves her daughter and continues to teacher to way of the strong willed, driven, capable woman. Those are the parents that build success from the ground up by teaching capable despite difficulty or difference.

Did the NOAH Conference serve to aid this, I would so say certainly.

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My trip to the NOAH Conference 2016 was made possible by sponsorship from: The Writers Association of Grenada, Kallalou Designs (shout out to my boss earrings), The Office of the Prime Minister and various good Samaritans who insist upon not being named because they are kind beyond measure <3