A 19-year-old albino who is a first year Visual Art student of Atebubu Senior High School in the Brong Ahafo Region, Yusif Fatau, has dropped out of school because of threats he received from the Atebubu community.
Yusif Fatau told The Finder in an interview that anytime he goes to Atebubu town, people would approach him and tell him that they do not need him in the community because he is an albino.
He said he was afraid to go back to school because something terrible could happen to him, so his father told him to stop the school.
As a day student, he does not know who would attack him, and the only option left for him was to stop schooling and be with his parents at Jato Zongo.
Father of Fatau, Yusif Seidu confirmed to The Finder that his son has stopped schooling because of the threats he received from some residents of Atebubu.
He said he has another child who is an albino. He said on his way to the Atebubu market sometime ago with his wife, someone retorted that back in the days they would have killed his child.
According to him, he did not take it serious but when Fatau started receiving the threats, he became worried and had to stop him from going to school. He said Fatau had once gone to Atebubu market to buy a calculator but was threatened by some people.
He said his worry is that Fatau cannot go into farming that is why he was encouraging him to go to school so that he could have a good future.
“I am worried about my son’s predicament. As a father, I was giving him education so that he would get a bright future because he cannot go into farming. I don’t know why they should treat albinos this way; they are human beings,” he expressed.
When contacted, the Atebubu Traditional Council denied speculations in the media that it has banned albinos from the area, and warned residents who are fond of threatening albinos in the traditional area to stop.
The Twafohene of the Atebubu Traditional Area, Nana Ofori Yeboah, vehemently denied news in a section of the media that the traditional area has banned Yusif Fatau, an albino, from attending the secondary school in the town.
According to Nana Yeboah, there used to be a tradition in the 18th Century when their forefathers were living at a place called Saama, where albinos were not entertained in the area.
According to him, the albinos were not killed but were asked to leave the community.
The tradition, he said, was aborted about 100 years ago.
He revealed that during that time, even natives of Atebubu who gave birth to albinos knew the tradition and took their children out of the community.
He said people are spreading this false information because of the history of the community in relation to albinos.
He said the Atebubu Traditional Council would deal with anyone who threatens an albino.
He called on the parents of Yusif Fatau to help find those who threatened his son for being an albino and they would deal with them ruthlessly.
<<Print>>