IT IS sad that Africans discriminate against fellow Africans and, worse, kill them for rituals simply because they look different.

IT IS sad that Africans discriminate against fellow Africans and, worse, kill them for rituals simply because they look different.

So said Albinism Society of Southern Africa (Assa) leader Nomasonto Mazibuko.

Assa,Sowetan and the Aggrey Klaaste Nation Building Foundation run the yearly National Schools Essay Competition on albinism.

Speaking on the eve of the 2009 essay launch at the Ligege High School in Duthuni in Thohoyandou, Limpopo, Mazibuko said: "School can be a challenge for children with albinism.

"But, with the love, help and support of family and friends, affected pupils manage to blend in successfully."

Ligege is the school where 17-year-old Grade 12 pupil Tshilisanani Nedombeloni won the competition in 2006.

Albinism, which results in little or no pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes, is an inherited, but manageable condition.

Grades 10 to 12 pupils are invited to write essays of not more than 1000 words on any one of the following topics :

lAlbinism: being different in my community;

lAlbinism: experiences of a teenager with albinism;

lAlbinism: how I relate to people with albinism; or

lAlbinism: a disability or not?"

Send entries to: National Schools Essay Competition on Albinism, PO Box 9881, Johannesburg, 2000.