A 19-year-old girl living with albinism, Vhutshilo Maiwashe, recalled that she had to endure insults and bouts of gawking from peers on the school's playground.
They called her lixwete – a derogatory name (depending on the tone of a speaker) used to address people living with albinism. "It started a long time ago while I was still in primary school," she said. "Fellow learners would call me names. They put me in a situation where I felt so emotionally hurt. It was hard for me to cope."
The continuous insults made her feel that she was quite different from other people. She started to question her identity. "I asked myself if there was something wrong that my parents had done that made me to be like this," she remembered. "It wasn't easy for me to carry on living around other people. So, I spent more time indoors at home."
A resident of Mashau Bodwe in the Makhado municipal area, Vhutshilo has a word of comfort, encouragement and motivation for other people who might have to face discrimination in communities and work places because of a disability.
"What I can tell society and people living with albinism or any other disability is that God never falls short on his creation," she stated. "If you can't see beauty in what God has created, pray for peace of mind and not to change what God saw fit to make."
She said that people should understand that self-acceptance was the key to a happier and more fulfilled life. "Never let disability limit you to reaching your goal," she said. "That is why I took that courage to name myself Ku Albino Queen, because I'm proud of being an albino queen."
She said that she gained self-confidence as she grew up, because she saw the kind of potential in herself that other people who didn't have a disability had not had. "It made me realise that the part of me that is a girl living with albinism was the plan of God for people to see that, even if I have albinism, I am able, and I can do what other people who are not disabled can't do," she said.
She also acknowledged the positive encouragement she got from those around her.
Today Vhutshilo oozes confidence. She chose to push aside all insults hurled at her by peers when she was at primary school, and focused on her life as a visionary of a young woman. "In five years' time, I want to see myself owning my own company and running a foundation for people living with disabilities, and getting my name up there in and beyond our country through hard but good work," she said.