Albinos On The Razor-edge Of Danger

Chinedu Dike

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Chinedu Dike

Wednesday 9 July 2025

Mzansi And The Ballot Box

Millions queued in lines before Arbiter Of Disputes.
Hopes were high,
Duty and resolve holding firm.
Hearts dance with spirit of Emancipation,
Each with ammo stronger than bullet,
Ready to dislodge a fiendish cabal out of Power.
All conscious of the long night of tribulation.
Singly, the weapons were discharged
Into The Receptacle Of Liberty;
Upon which they received baptisms of Freedom.
Inside the altar tugs of war ensued:
Invisible fibres bound and aligned aspirations.
Popular Will prevailed.
Bearing the scars of Apartheid,
Indigenous people celebrate the birth of Democracy.
Ballot Box had come at a great expense;
At all costs its sacredness shall be preserved.
Those were the surviving heroes and heroines of Mzansi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Mzansi is the affectionate name for SOUTH AFRICA.

The story is about her first democratic elections of 1994.

The Arbiter Of Disputes, The Receptacle Of Liberty,
the altar, all refer to THE BALLOT BOX.

ammo, weapons, refers to ballot paper and ballot papers respectively.

fiendish cabal refers to The White Minority Rule:
The Apartheid Regime.

Chinedu Dike

Wednesday 9 July 2025

ANC AND THE STRUGGLE

January 1912, Mzansi brought forth a child
In a harsh political climate
Destined to free her people
Bound to cruel Fate
Long Live Child Of Necessity!
Viva ANC!

His growth fraught with perils
But nurtured by sons and daughters of the soil
Deprived of dignity and birthright
Whose principal offence is not being 'White'
Long Live Son Of The Soil!
Viva ANC!

His clarion call an impetus to the Struggle
Unifying localized forces of Freedom
Into a mass-based Liberation Movement
Brought into the realm of Global Awareness
Long Live Symbolic Leader Of The Struggle!
Viva ANC!

Fighting against enormous odds
Together with hopeful but ill-equipped natives
Onto the spirit he anchored Power
Victory guaranteed on Resolve
Long Live Son Of Hope!
Viva ANC!

Braving the slammer, torture, bullet...
Massacre of his warriors the order of the day
Energized by tears and blood of compatriots
Civil Disobedience intensify with Sabotage
Long Live The Indomitable Warrior!
Viva ANC!

At long last, triumph and jubilation
Forces of Liberty topple forces of Oppression
Embracing 'no winner no loser' notion
He calls for 'Rainbow Nation'
Long Live Son Of Liberty!
Viva ANC!

Long Live The Symbol Of Human Dignity!
Viva The Legacies Of African National Congress!

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Mzansi is the affectionate name for South Africa.

Depicted in the poem is the inspiring story of
The African National Congress (The ANC)
as a Liberation Movement, from its inception
on 8 January 1908 up to its momentous victory
at the 1994 first generation election.

Since gaining political power, The ANC
has increasingly changed from a Freedom
Movement to an ordinary Political Party.
For the suffering and disillusioned masses,
democracy has proved to be a mirage:
their once hopeful assertion of Black Rule
has become an anticipation of a flashy illusion.

The ANC, albeit a shadow of its former self,
has continued to maintain political power
without pause through the power of thumb.

Chinedu Dike

Thursday 10 July 2025

POETIC MASTERPIECE

Poetic Masterpiece: A Childbirth Of Profundity.

Like delivery of Divine Revelations

which favours calmness of wilderness,

it's brought forth in Creative-Glory-Of-Solitude:

an abode of Enlightenment in whose mirror of grace,

purest passions reflect out from shady reality —

to gratify inflamed curiosity of Inward-Eye,

as it wanders around source of enchantment,

seeking in expanded awareness to capture

the essence of a phenomenon shrouded in mystery.

In blessed, serene mood with passionate intensity,

mind labours hard to replicate images being

unveiled in the exalted realm of thought.

With illuminative wizardry that nudge limits of speech,

the wordsmith graced with breath of poetic creation

gives life to words —

freeing them from their rigid implications.

Soulful words that sway soul of the reader,

leaving the excited spirit with an enigma to ponder.

Such is the sublime nature of every Poetic Masterpiece.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Poetry is a free flight of creativity in the serene beauty of transcendent world. It emanates from deep recesses of the subconscious mind.

Painted on the canvas of POETIC MASTERPIECE are the intricacies and essence of poetry as an art, or what one may refer to as a critical probe into the essential nature of poetry.

In the poem, I have portrayed ingenious works of poetry as extraordinary creations - conceptualised and birthed in their authors' sublime moments.

Intuitively, it is known that when creative energy is ignited by passion, while in a blessed, serene mood, the poet/poetess poised for his/her artistic creation sometimes begins to hit transcendent moments - rising above the limitation of his/her physical level of consciousness to be favoured with The Breath Of Poetic Creation.

During those impulses of inspiration words are wedded with amazing skill and finesse to create sound, visionary clarity and impact, on a complex reality that is not easily accessible to the senses - a phenomenon that in any other forms of writing may prove quite cumbersome to depict.

A sublime perspective, a delicate crystallization of purest passions while in mental solitude, and exquisite care in rendition of words to utmost justice are the indispensable tools for a masterful poetic design.

The prize is an exclusive preserve of the devoted, intricate mind.

Chinedu Dike

Tuesday 24 June 2025

The Phoenix Strangler

With promise of job,

he lured her into a cane field.

His gentleness a veil of sanity.

Lurking in his mind,

a perversion of sex instinct:

'Bind her! Torture her! Kill her! '

Deep within comfort zone

suddenly brandishing his bludgeon,

countenance wearing mercilessness -

sight of which imported terror into her spine.

Desperate plea for mercy fueling his excitement.

Menacingly, her clothes he demanded.

Hissing in agony like pine tree,

gnashing her teeth before the incubus,

she stripped!

Her nudity assaulting his senses,

eyes flaming with lust,

he took stock of the bared flesh:

'Beautiful! Submissive! Horrified! '

Bound and gagged,

fantasy translating into reality,

all hell broke loose...

Urge gratified,

with her undergarment around her neck,

he sealed her fate.

Sixteenth victim of the unhinged mind:

Single mother of two horrendously murdered.

Not quite long, no sooner had he got home

than long arm of the law tapped his shoulders:

DNA found on victims had matched his.

Karma forced to be lenient,

he lives albeit in confinement.

No Death Penalty In Mzansi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Mzansi is the affectionate name for South Africa.

The Phoenix Strangler - Sipho Mandla Agmatir Thwala (born 1968)is a South African rapist and serial killer. He began his year-long rape and murder spree in 1996. His modus operandi was to lure local women into accompanying him through the sugarcane field near the town of Phoenix in KwaZulu-Natal Providence with the promise of employment as domestic servants in hotels. Once they were deep within the cane field, Thwala would attack the women, bind them with their undergarments and then rape, strangle and bludgeon them to death. Afterwards, hoping to destroy any physical evidence of the attack, he would set fire to the cane fields.

Thwala was arrested in 1997 after South African police matched DNA found on the victims to DNA taken from Thwala in 1994 when he was arrested and acquitted for a rape charge.

On March 31,1999, the High Court in Durban found Thwala guilty of 16 murders and 10 rapes and sentenced him to 506 years in prison.

Thwala is currently being held at CMax penitentiary in Pretoria South Africa.

Chinedu Dike

Tuesday 24 June 2025

The Obsessive Agony Of Lust

Self lost in obsessive agony,
Your primal passion - a flaming ferocity,
The raging fire consumes your dignity,
And shame is put to slumber.

Seduced by the wayward twin of Love,
Power of deviation subdued,
On pathway of despair you tread:
A burden too heavy to bear.

Mind drowning in bitter-sweetened sensation,
Onto elusive dream you strive to hold fast,
but alas, it keeps vanishing like mirage in a vast
Desert: a volatile mix of hope and anxiety.

Raving lunatic you've become
Seeking savage-desire's fulfillment;
An ugly reflection of nature devoid of contentment.
Lust: a nightmare in the lonely bed of infatuation.

Chinedu Dike

Tuesday 24 June 2025

The Evil Face Of Religion

Since the dawn of humanity, the annals

of Religion have been littered with awful tales.

Sacred scriptures have blessed lives —

and sabotaged them.

Sophistic doctrine breeds dreadful hostility.

Often where Religion is strong—cruelty

reigns—as fanatics under 'total submission'

commit atrocities through blind devotion.

A close look at religious democides

suggests jamborees of genocides —

bloodlettings from which Atheism

recoils in its realm of ungodliness.

On the faith mission to fulfill a divine goal,

Religion is torn between good and evil.

Slaying from age to age in the name of God,

hands of zealots are left defiled with blood.

Chinedu Dike

Sunday 3 May 2026

The Abyss Of Drug Addiction

The Abyss Of Drug Addiction

In a wayward adventure in curiosity —
lured away from savvy of cooler judgment,
he ventures beyond the boundaries of
reality into a realm of altered awareness.

Overwhelmed by a rapid onset of elating,
buzzing sensation — "the opioid rush",
emanating from deep inside him surging
along a vast network of veins streaming

euphoria through cells of his entire body:
inside the body, with warm pleasure waves
flushing over the now tight, tingling skin with
goosebumps, releasing all negative emotions.

Mouth numbed, limbs heavy, and eyeballs
rolling back from hitherto an unimaginable
state of bliss, he savours the calm explosions
of the pulsating bubbles in his jubilating head.

A magical moment of sheer orgasmic rapture
that tapers to a lasting, dazed sedation —
during which he's spellbound with wonder
while covered by a cozy blanket of content.

He falls in love with the insidious drug.
And he begins to relish its sweet fruition
in a seemly pattern of use that is put
in the shade to protect his best interests.

A stake in normalcy that seeks to confine
his consumption of the opioid to only at
parties. Slowly, but surely, he drifts towards
a regular recreational use on weekends,

soaring and drifting in wonderful ripples of
pure delight, feeling very mellow, stress-free,
and satisfied in an illusionary paradise of
forgetfulness where reality is left behind.

Bit by bit, as time goes by, his body builds up
a tolerance for the sedative, prompting his
intake of higher and more frequent doses to
feel as well as to sustain the desired effect.

This occurs because his body attempts to adapt to
the presence of the drug by quickly breaking it up
and purging it out of his system, thus making its
effects shorter and weaker than they were before.

At this stage of his drug abuse he's still able to
control whether to use the stuff or not, where
and when to use it, without stress. He could
also abstain from the opioid fairly responsibly.

But over time his body begins to exceed the limit
of its flexible response to the drug, making him
to suffer from its unpleasant side-effects that
show up a while later following his last use.

The pleasurable, but short-term, therapeutic
effects of the opioid are now being followed
and replaced by several of its undesirable
withdrawal symptoms that manifest as:

cravings for the opiate, flu-like sickness, fatigue,
irritability, stomach cramps, muscle aches, cold
chills/sweat, among others, with his discomfort
growing right along with the urge to use the drug.

The onset of these uncomfortable side-effects
of the stimulant marks the kick-off of his body's
physical dependence on it, as he now counts
on the drug to fend off the distressing affliction.

He has bitten at the bait of pleasure oblivious of
the hook beneath it. The once casual user, who
had thought he could quit the habit at will without
stress, now has to use in order to feel normal.

Even though indulging himself with the opioid has
become a part of his daily routine, he's still able
to control and limit its intake, get to work on time,
and take care of his day to day responsibilities.

But the continued rise of his body's tolerance to
the drug ensures a steady increase in quantity of
opioid being consumed and usage duration, not
just during weekends but on every single night.

Not quite long, a new sickness begins to fester
inside him: the powerful drug is tightening its grip,
as his body's unhealthy physical dependence on it
is now generating his addiction to the substance.

This psychological dependence on the narcotic
has set in with anxiety disorder accompanied
by emotional and behavioural problems, with
a loss of control over his use of the sedative.

The opiate has become something he needs to
sleep or to fully wake up, and his sleeping pattern
has also been altered; frequently up at night
and intermittently dozing off during the day.

As dosage of the potent compound increases
so does the visible signs of his addiction to it
and other symptoms of withdrawal, making his
craving for the drug increasely more intense.

As it is, he's needs several hits of the opioid to
make it through the day. All at once he wants
to use! He begins to look forward to using.
He would ingest the drug in risky situations

such as while at the wheel of his car or on
his job, always desperate to use so as to
avoid the painful lows as well as to revel in
the bliss of the drug's comforting warmth.

At times he would skip work 'chasing the dragon':
pursuing the out-of-reach elation levels of
his initial ecstatic highs, swinging between
feelings of intense euphoria and dysphoria.

Always, his body would afterwards crash well
below the baseline, barely capable to cater for
his basic daily needs. For long, the habit has
ceased to be the fun that it was intended to be.

Like a vicious cycle the relief from the opioid,
which is not justified by external reality,
is being obtained at the cost of the worsening
addiction and a growing increase in distress

whenever he has low levels of the narcotic
in his system. The more he indulges on it,
to calm his racing thoughts and panic attacks,
the more its comfort zone seems to be desired.

Quite disoriented in the rigours of his vice
he strays in the abyss of drug addiction:
a dark, weary place where priority disorder
is dictated by events outside of his control.

It is this corrupted impulse control that causes
his unhealthy obsession with the narcotic,
rendering him incapable of articulating
rational thoughts: a chronic brain disorder.

In this harmful diversion away from reality,
utmost in his mind is the insidious drug:
over and above his job, his goals, family,
love, friends, hobbies, and personal hygiene.

Oddly enough the foremost essentials of life
like sleep, food and water, are also not spared.
He could be feeling ill and he won't care.
No other thoughts can cohabit in his world.

Emotionally invested in his fantasy world
the destructive substance has kindled in him
an inner turmoil, setting off an overriding
feeling of emptiness that aches in his heart.

The habit much harder to lose than it was
to find: an ongoing effort to wean himself off
the drug is being crushed by a dysphoric mood
and a sickly feeling that intensify in severity.

These horrifying symptoms of discontinuation
syndrome are a result of the drug's induced
disruptions in the biochemical processes of
his brain's system of reward and punishment.

[As an aside, note that the human brain has
around 100 billion individual nerve cells, or
neurons, which form a convoluted network that
has over 100 trillion connections, or synapses.

Information travels around this vast network
all the time, allowing the brain to direct all
the conscious and unconscious activities
in the body, both simple and complex ones.

The brain responds to new information from
the nervous system by releasing chemical
messengers called neurotransmitters that
pass signals from one neuron to another.

Neurotransmitter signaling is a crucial part
of all the brain’s functions, and changes in
the way it sends signals can alter ones way
of thinking, feelings, or perception of things.

There are at least 100 different kinds of these
chemical hormones in the brain. But the most
important ones when it comes to addiction
are the stress and the feel-good hormones.

Stress hormones, mainly adrenaline, cortisol,
and corticotropin-releasing factor (CFR), play
a critical role in the initiation, maintenance,
and relapse phases of addiction by activating

the brain's "anti-reward" system, which leads
to withdrawal symptoms. Repeatedly high levels
of these neurochemical messengers increase
vulnerability to substance use by intensifying

stress and cravings, diminishing impulse control,
causing the use of more drugs to feel "normal",
higher addiction severity, as well as promoting
relapse to alleviate negative emotional states.

Neurotoxic substances are also really good
at not only messing with one's levels of happy
hormones—primarily dopamine, serotonin,
and endorphins—by overstimulating their

release upon intake of such potent compounds,
but also by exploiting the brain's capacity to
vividly remember unnatural highs and motivate
itself to find more of their sources in the future.

Dopamine spikes to release pleasure when good
things happen to us. It reinforces enjoyable
sensations and behaviours by linking things that
make us feel good with a desire to repeat them.

Serotonin regulates social behaviour, impulse,
mood, and sleep. It plays a key role in staving
off anxiety and depression as well as fostering
focus, calmness, and a sense of well-being.

Endorphins are natural painkillers produced by
the body to help us deal with emotional and
physical stress by effectively blocking pain signals,
thus reducing one's feelings of pain and distress.

So, in a normal healthy body, happy hormones,
including oxytocin and GABA, work together
in harmony balancing pain and stress control,
mood stabilization, motivation, and pleasure.]

In a moment you will see how neurological
changes in the reward system of his brain,
occasioned by prolonged abuse of the opioid,
has turned his natural needs into drug needs.

Rather than a mild, blissful flow of the brain's
happy hormones, as is experienced while
one indulges in a palatable food, on receiving
great news, or while engaged in any other

kinds of novelty that fill us with a delicious
pleasure, the opiate, whose chemical structure
is similar to those of endorphins which are
released by the body to suppress feelings of

distress or pain, by mimicking these natural
painkillers they attach to structures called
opioid receptors found on cells in the central
nervous system and other areas of the body,

causing these receptors to block pain signal
from reaching the upper part of the brain that
interpreters it as pain. While at it, the narcotic
triggers the release of endorphins to reinforce

its painkilling effect, and serotonin hormones to
block stress signal from reaching the brain as well —
thus modulating how the brain physiologically
adapts to adversity, anxiety, and depression.

The opiate also induces a quick secretion of
excessive amount of dopamine, which courses
through the pleasure pathways of the brain
overwhelming the reward center of the organ.

It is this huge outpouring of happy hormones
in the region that elicites in him a sudden burst
of energy, a pleasant state of mild drowsiness,
mental alertness, the euphoric high, etcetera.

This already powerful, rapturous effect of the
insidious substance is further magnified by
the drug's temporary blocking off of stress
hormones in the reward system of his brain,

therefore dulling his emotions and worries
by suppressing any feeling of sorrow, regret,
guilt, fear, loneliness, or distress. Upon intake
of the mood-altering drug, he would feel

warm when cold, calm when angry, bright
when grumpy, filled when hungry, glad when
sad, and relief when in physical pain, with
almost a total refrain from the tendency

to look at anything in a negative manner.
If he's in a severe withdrawal before using
the opioid, he would feel as if suddenly
he's being catapulted from a place of worst

misery to one of greatest joy — like being
lifted away from hell to heaven in a flash.
This dramatic result of the psychoactive drug
makes every normal thing appear better,

and brings forth a deep sense of satisfaction
as though all his needs have been met.
However, this almost perfectly desirable body
and mind experience is an artificial feeling

that only lasts within a matter of hours. When
the drug's enjoyable effects wear off, because
the brain, which has grown used to the steady
supply of happy hormones, cannot adjust

all at once it goes into shock as it gets stuck
in overdrive which results in the withdrawal
symptoms. It is so because his brain, whose
system of positive reward is being frenzied,

seeks to counteract and accomodate for the
sweet thrills of the drug's euphoric high by
not only attempting to drastically reduce the
number of neurons that are able to respond

to signals from the feel good hormones, but
also is working hard to stop their production
and release into the reward pathways, while
overstimulating the release of stress hormones.

Just like an immense surge of happy hormones
elicits unnatural levels of euphorical pleasure,
a huge spike in flow of stress hormones produce
in him the torturous withdrawal symptoms.

These unwanted side-effects, whose rise and fall
are subject to drug levels in the system, are
the debts he has to pay for the supreme bliss
that is being relished during his opioid highs.

Another flip side of frequent happy hormones
surges is that they result in the brain's inability
to respond to any stimulus other than the very
ones being triggered by neurotoxic substances.

This is clearly seen in his lost of interest in
things that he once enjoyed, since his brain
suffers from lack of happy hormones which
influence one's ability to be in a good mood.

It is all about his brain seeking to maintain
Homeostasis: a normal, healthy body function.
Once he's able to amerce with penance due,
he'll feel good again with no need for the drug.

Because the drug has also thrown activities
in the control region of the brain into disorder,
his whole thought pattern, impulses and
behaviour, all radically change along with it.

It is this reprogramming of his brain that has
altered the interior reality of his mind, in ways
that result in him going into 'survival mode'
in the absence of the drug during withdrawal.

While in this irritable, aggressive and erratic
state, he would forego anything and everything
to obtain the narcotic because he's thinking
of his drug use the same way an individual

who is parched with thirst thinks of water.
This desperation in seeking out the drug as
a vital lifeline is due to his compromised brain
'believing' it needs it as a matter of survival.

A habit he had maintained in the beginning
because it made him feel extremely good
has tuned against him, quite often coercing
him to use primarily for the avoidance of pain.

The destructive drug as dear and painful
to him as an imbecilic child is to its mother,
he continues on the foreboding route
for which he has no power of deviation.

Despairing in the clutches of drug addiction,
the neurotoxic compound traumatize him,
it infuses poisons into his nervous system,
and it keeps him in a state of mental chaos.

He's kept on saying to himself, 'I'm going
to quit for good after using one last time.'
But that remains to be seen as the drug
goes on dulling his inner light day by day.

In a downward spiral that astonishes those
acquainted with him, he loses his job, his
car is repossessed, and he's evicted from
a nice home that had been stripped bare.

Drowning in unpaid bills and desperately
in debt having blown an entire life-savings
on the drug, the loss of everything and his
few remaining friends leaves him in ruins.

The dangerous drug has evoked a negative
ripple that is felt throughout all that he's
part of. An awful realization that settles in
with cold clarity, eliciting a lurch of dismay

over his dire ignorance about the narcotic
which has resulted in the ugly entrapment.
In deep, sorrowful thoughts consumed
with self-loathing he puts a curse upon

the day he first laid eyes on the hard drug.
With the best resolve he's able to muster,
driven by exasperation to kick the habit,
he attempts to make his will like stone —

a facade that is soon razed by his urgent need
for the opiate to stave off withdrawal. With a
burden of guilt and shame that can't be faced
he retreats into the haze of his own misery.

With more problems and stresses than ever
he plunges from troubled life to no life,
completely losing touch with reality as his
addiction assumes a more dangerous form.

His fixation on the opiate has taken a turn for
the worst. Besides his compulsive need to use it
to ward off withdrawal and to experience
its euphoric high again, it has become more

crucial than ever for him to keep his emotions
constantly desensitised to life, by numbing
the agony of living to ease the passage of
day with purchased relief from the sedative.

Locked in this highly destructive pattern of
drug abuse, he would stop at nothing to feed
the dangerous habit: he would cheat, steal,
lie or betray no matter who to get his 'fix'.

Like a cancerous growth that metabolizes
to other regions of the body, his enduring
burden has spread way beyond him chipping
away at the wellbeing of those around him.

As frequent and ready targets for theft his
loved ones have to always watch out for him,
in a resentful relationship in which they never
could feel at easy with him around the house.

Money, jewellery, tools, gadgets, or any other
marketable and easy-to-carry household items,
that are not safely locked away, will go missing.
For days or weeks at a time he, too, will vanish.

He would eventually return like the biblical
'prodigal son'. Always, he's found the door
open after such periods of avoiding home,
even on occasions when he'd been chucked out.

In the many months gone since losing his
source of livelihood, he'd already been pushed
into four different rehabilitation facilities,
but as yet has failed to clean up his act.

Two of his stints in those healing centres
immediately followed hospital discharges for
opioid overdose. On the last occasion, he was
found passed out in the family's bathtub.

Timely arrival of the paramedics had saved
his life. Notwithstanding, a nagging urge
to q'use' continues to feed and reinforce
the habit after each discharge from rehab.

It's been most upsetting to the parents who
have had to watch him visibly change before
their eyes: from a healthy, level-headed son,
who had always had his act together, to,

as it is, a thin, patchy-skinned loner with
a baffled demeanour, who buries his head
in low self-esteem to conceal frequently
dilated and glassy pupils from mutual gaze.

Nothing points more to the helplessness of
his family's plight, over the ravages of the
stigmatized disorder, than a lack of effort on
his part to take steps to change his condition.

A harrowing experience for the grieving
household whose resources, along with
compassion for him, have completely been
exhausted with no more tears left to shed.

The unfortunate family on reaching the end of
their tether confronts him with an ultimatum:
to get his life together or finally face the music.
Sorrowfully, they all watch him leave home.

His further descent into the final stages of rock-
bottom has been swift. He starts off by crashing
on fellow addicts' couches and floors without
pillow, but soon his welcome quickly wears out.

Now among the ranks of the homeless the hobo
would wake up feeling dope sick, and his entire
day would consist of begging and petty thefts
to raise money for the opioid, in order to assuage

a torment that it could dull but never eliminate.
At nights, even on stormy ones, the rough
sleeper would crash wherever there's shelter,
never worrying about waking up the next day.

A nightmarish existence on the street that has
provoked a string of run-ins with the law.
Nabbed stealing on ill-fated occasions, he's
brutally manhandled in a most indecent way.

Emanciated, hungry and sick, the erstwhile
ray of hope, who once had a strong sense of
self, is currently a filthy nervous wreck who
views life through the lens of opioid stupor.

Much beyond his capacity to solicit assistance,
yet again his hurting family proceed to rescue him.
Under the humbling load of drug addiction
he staggers into another rehabilitation centre.

But the frequently slippery climb to recovery
is never easy. It's yet another chance for him
to submit to a slow and delicate therapy on
his brain, whose structure and functions are

badly impacted by years-long use of the drug.
The healing process is a labour of discipline
and commitment, coupled with patience
in order to allow the brain to adapt back

toward normalcy by gradually regenerating
and rebalancing itself. In the gruelling task,
he's expected to learn to care for a body that
now must struggle to work in a different way.

Desiring to put their lives back together many
druggies have been able to crawl their way out
of the sinister shadow — a big chunk of them
through the guiding light of structured help.

Amongst them were 'walking corpses' who,
possessed by their 'enough is enough', were
enabled to find the inner fire vitally needed
to rekindle the cold embers of self-image.

There's the fella cast adrift feeling like a lost
cause with no positive him. He's mourning
his qforced abstinence from the vital boost
that has always helped him cope with life.

He'd been through the process several times
before, but never in those periods had he,
for once, been capable of detaching himself
from the fog of mental apathy and confusion.

With the drug completely out of his system,
it starts to feel a lot like flu and hay fever
and appears to be getting worse by the day.
There's itching at the roof of his mouth,

in his sour throat, ears, watery eyes, and his
runny, stuffed-up nose, with pin-prickling
sensation all over his body. There are also
frequent yawning, a rapid, shallow breathing

from anxiety, and fits of sneezes that appear
and disappear all too often. He's trembling
almost non-stop and sweating excessively,
with goosebumps covering his itchy, sore skin.

It's like his body's thermostat has gone haywire
and is finding it difficult to regulate temperature.
He would feel hot and then cold, and then again
both high fever and shivering at the same time.

Muscles ache like he's been repeatedly kicked
everywhere: his arms, legs, hands, and chest.
There're migraine headaches, tremors, joint
pain, and his aching back is wracked in spasms.

He's feeling like there's an infestation of bugs
crawling underneath his skin. He's agitated
and worried with a sense of impending calamity
that is keeping him short-tempered and on edge.

It's hard to move but impossible to keep still.
He is plagued by weakness and dizziness,
but despite the constant feeling of fatigue
he's finding it difficult to fall or stay asleep.

Tossing and turning for who knows how long,
eventually he would fall into a fitful doze
during which the nightmares are full of terrors,
and he would wake up feeling totally drained.

At certain times, he'd scream out loud because
a wave of withdrawal comes on hard and fast.
Very much aware from experience that it will
definitely go from bad to worse sends rushes

of cold anxiety right down to his aching bones.
The onset of gastric problems marks the point
at which withdrawal symptoms begin to peak.
The debilitating sickness gets really menacing!

Explosive diarrhea and vomiting almost to the
point of fatal dehydration make him a slave to
the toilet. He can feel his stomach clenching but
has zero appetite for any kind of food or liquid.

He keeps rushing to the toilet except there's
nothing left inside of him, so he dry heaves
until there's no strength left to do that and he
just hangs his head there in choked desolation.

But withdrawal from opioids goes far beyond
the physical symptoms, it also involves mental
and emotional challenges. It's a psychological
roller coaster that includes all sorts of oddity,

depression, hallucination, chaotic and suicidal
thoughts. Even though he's constantly being
assured that within a short time he will start
to feel good if only he could commit himself

to getting better, yet the continued worsening
of his sickness appears to indicate otherwise,
as more and more symptoms keep pooping up
all the time to cohabit with the earlier ones.

Meanwhile his pain intensifies right along with
the escalating urge to use the opioid. As "dope
sickness" peaks, he begins to experience almost
all of the withdrawal symptoms simultaneously.

Nothing has ever come close to the torment
that opioid withdrawal brings at this stage.
Imagine a terrible flu joining forces with the worst
case of food poisoning, hay fever and high fever,

profound weariness, restless legs and arms,
full bodyaches, a feeling of pins and needles,
skin feeling like it's crawling and the other
symptoms of withdrawal all present at once.

This combined attack ebbs and flows, sometimes
sustaining pick levels for a while during which
it feels like every cell in his body is crying out
for the drug and every nerve is fired with pain.

Opiate withdrawal at its peak is a rolling mental,
emotional, and physical torture! The only thing
going through his mind this entire time is how
just one shot of the narcotic will make it all vanish.

Despair rules his mind as he realizes he can’t
last with the habit or live without it. But, he's
in the early and peak stages of withdrawal
when cravings for the drug are at their worst.

This initial withdrawal agony is the biggest hurdle
any druggie desiring to get sober has to jump in
the often stop-start journey to recovery. If he can,
somehow, find the courage to suffer through it,

in a matter of days the physical symptoms of
withdrawal such as spasms, overall body ache,
hot and cold flashes, gastrointestinal distress,
and heavy sweating will almost be fully gone,

making the healing process less painful to cope
with. So he'll be left to deal with only anhedonia:
the inability to feel pleasure that persist for a
long time after dope sickness has disappeared.

During this lasting stage of recovery, feelings of
emptiness and melancholy are prevalent due to
the production cessation of feel-good hormones
and the inability of normal stimuli to trigger

their release in the reward system of the brain,
as the complex organ strives to restore a balanced
chemistry when the intake of a hard drug stops.
Anhedonia is marked by continued cravings

and negative emotional state of mind such as fear,
irritability, restlessness, anxiety, and depression,
all of which will be completely dissipated the
longer a recovering drug addict stays sober.

He's been offered a way out of his captivity,
but he's unable to embrace the opportunity
with open arms because the changes caused
by adverse effects of the narcotic on his brain

have reduced the ability of the Prefontal Cortex,
that region of the brain responsible for both
reasoning and decision making, to provide
cognitive control over his compulsive drug use.

The overall consequence is that his obsession
for the opiate is being driven by habit rather
than conscious thought, almost like a reflex.
In effect, his brain, which has been hijacked,

is focused on the sole purpose of seeking out
more and more of the potent drug, whatever
the cost. Meaning that the addiction, which
convinces him the only option available is to

indulge on the opiate, is blocking him from
seeing the available escape route. It has shut
off his ability to get up on the inside to face
the seeming overwhelming barriers to sobriety.

Like one in the grip of Stockholm Syndrome,
he has developed a type of trauma bonding
with the treacherous drug: the more it hurts
him, the more his irrational affection for it.

With his consciousness constantly revolving
around the psychoactive substance, he just
can't imagine a chronic user like himself
being sober and happy again without it.

That being the case, he fails to see any point
in struggling to remain sober when in such
times he's beset by an awful illness attended
by a serious depression that is of no help.

Regardless of the wreckage of his past and
everything that is dear to him plus the very
essence of life on the line, he's left convinced
that giving up the destructive habit would

imply endless suffering and feeling deprived
for the rest of his already hellish existence.
More than any other reasons, he's incapable
of quitting because he's too powerless to resist.

In default of any dreams of ever recouping
losses that are manifestly out of reach,
the opioid with a firm grip on him serves
as a buffer to keep his ugly reality at bay.

All that he wants is to return to the 'loving
arms' of the sedative, very much aware that
the analgesic feeling of its high, now that he's
in pain, can be one of the best things ever.

But even so, as tempting as the desire to walk
away from the healing process may be, he's
bitterly mindful of the horrors of street life that
loom upon him with such frightening aspect.

Inescapably trapped with no good choices
he slips into a menacing fear of relapse.
In anguish withdrawal plagues him daily,
and it won't allow him a moment's peace.

Utterly incapable of rising from the ashes
to hold it all together—no iota of hope—
nothing to look forward to—everything
out of focus—mind spiraling out of control.

In a fit of extreme anxiety the burning urge
to 'use' prods him, closer and closer, to the
brink of a nervous breakdown. And suddenly,
his need for a 'hit' becomes most vital as.

Sweating profusely and trembling all over
with fear clutching a pilfered smartphone,
forgetful of future suffering the rehab
jumper hurries along the forbidden path.

All alone with the merciless companion:
nowhere to go and no one to turn to,
wretchedly wretched in additive agony
the junkie fades away into nothingness.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

The Abyss Of Drug Addiction is written in one hundred and sixty (160) non-rhyming quatrains.

The rendition is a poignant story depicting the sad existence of many drug users. The verse uncovers and illuminates, step by step, the different stages of drug addiction and the mental processes of the unable to function drug users.

The paramount aim of the work is to shed some light on the sinister shadow of drug addiction: to unveil to all and sundry, especially teenagers and the youths, the hazards of drug abuse and the vicious downward spiral that can be caused by it.

Just as the euphoric experience of all kinds of hard drug differs significantly, so are their withdrawal symptoms. Despite their seeming surface unrelatedness, whichever hard drug it may be, the creation of an illegal and dangerous dependency against the will of users is a common denominator.

[The Rush is described as a feeling very much like a heightened and prolonged sexual orgasm. A great relieve of tension. It is mostly felt when heroin or any of it's derivatives opioids/opiates is administered intravenously].

Chinedu Dike

Tuesday 24 June 2025

Colossal Miscarriage Of Justice

Kind face contorted by torture of severe whipping;

His body a mass of torn bleeding tissue.

Cruelty stretched beyond limits of endurance;

scourging was halted on the brink of death.

Numbed-hands unshackled from pillar,

He collapsed on a stone pavement.

'Crucify Him! Crucify Him!' Jarred the frenzied pack.

Paroxysms of rage that would pull down the fortress

of justice. Roughly, He's brought back to consciousness.

Wrenching pain sent features convulsing in humiliation

as the smitten Crown Of Thorns pierced His scalp.

The mocking crowd ridiculed: 'Hail, king of the Jews!'

Surfeited with demeaning mimicry in midday heat,

the Cross of Shame they hoisted on sagged shoulders.

In loneliness of anguish, His staggering courage

acquiesced to the summon by the looming fate.

In the mob's rain of spit and spittle, He tottered away.

A trail of His blood traced the route to Golgotha.

Nailed to the cross on Mount Calvary, loin cloth

He wore flanked by a duo on death row.

Parched with thirst, a sour blend was offered.

Looking down at by then jubilant crowd, He prayed:

'Father, forgive them they don't know what they're doing.'

'He is calling for Elijah,' they joked, wickedly amused.

Human barbarity too much to bear, with last gasp

of breath, He wailed: 'Eloi! Eloi! Leman Sabachthan?'

A shriek of the doomed that rent the skies.

'It is finished!' Then gently came the words:

'Father, into Thy hands I place my spirit.'

Head bowed, in utter agony He succumbed to injuries.

His prosecution: a blatant perversion of legal rules,

in a hasty nocturnal trials that snubbed burden-of-proof;

which had no room for witnesses for the accused.

A criminal action preceded by the unlawful arrest

He endured with manhandling and savage beating,

even though no resistance was offered nor expected.

Unfairly found guilty of His assertion of the messiahship

under the Mosaic Law; thereafter, He's arraigned before

a Roman blood-court on a claim to kingship of the Jews.

Hellbent on having Him put to death, the initial charge

of blasphemy was amended to sedition against Rome,

thus the religious was translated into a political charge.

Declared righteous by the one that betrayed Him;

what's more, He's adjudged innocent by the prefect —

a vacillating judge unruly eclipsed by the incited mob,

at whose behest capital punishment was handed down.

A travesty that shifted a villain's infamy to the Nazarene,

while freedom of the damned became lot of the freed.

On no occasion had he robbed nor cheated any one.

An upright gent he was with a lifetime of clean record,

who became target for lynching — in a sinister plot

hatched by Jewish leaders perturbed about His gospel

and rising popularity through mesmerizing miracles.

His Brutal Execution: A Colossal Miscarriage Of Justice.

Chinedu Dike

Tuesday 24 June 2025

Children Of The Street

In their faces a colourless gaping of life's adversity:

the hopeless grief of a hellish existence;

Malnourished, starving, filth and olfactory horrors;

Their humiliating nothingness clothed in rags;

Usually barefooted with low self-esteem;

Begging or rummaging through garbage for

thrown-away foods to assuage pangs of hunger;

Oftentimes feeling cold that comes from being sickly;

Sleeping or indulging in cheap cocktails of toxic

sedatives at the dark corners of the street:

these dispositions identify them to society as

'Children Of The Street: The Roofless And Rootless Kids.'

The hapless minors squat in the open on the street,

or at some ill-suited but out of sight places.

Day to day they fall prey to all manner of violence

and abusive treatments, in hostile surroundings

where childhood apparently has come to an end.

They're menaced by extreme weather conditions:

be it scorching summer heat, severe storms,

or bone-chilling, subzero temperatures.

They belong to nowhere and to no one:

no place to reckon upon as 'home sweet home',

and no comfort, whatever, is found on the street

where the public spurn them with icy contempt.

'Children Living On The Street' is a global reality.

With the urban slums serving as notorious hotbeds,

poverty accompanied by toxic homes account for

a vast number of minors who migrate onto the street.

Family break-up, parental demise, abandonment, war,

and other socio-economic/political changes that take

their toll on them, also prod them into homelessness.

Left to their fate, the vulnerable kids miss out on

physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth.

In the absence of needful support, they struggle for

survival on the fringes of society - trapped in a cycle

of destitution that only few are lucky to escape from.

Homeless Children, through no fault of their own,

are denied the very essentials of childhood.

Unwanted and uncared for they bear the brunt of

all sorts of contagious diseases, lice and bedbugs

infestations, plus the forever pestering flees that feast

on open wounds - with scant access to healthcare.

Stomachs plagued by worms, they roam the streets

where no public toilets are left ajar to get in free.

Barely clinging to life, roofless kids hang on desperately.

With scarcely any human hands to wipe away tears

of bitter pain, they gnash their teeth in extremities.

Many live and yield up the ghost on the street.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

The poem is a forthright portrayal of the fierce wretchedness of Homeless Kids, as seen mostly in third world and developing countries (some parts of Africa, Asia and South America) .

Bear in mind that the vast majority of children who end up homeless, do not do so by choice. Disruptive home situations are mostly responsible for mere minors leaving the family house, to seek a sense of wellbeing that has eluded them at home on the street.

Street Connected Kids (Street Kids) fall into one of two groups: 'Children On The Street' or 'Children Of The Street'.

'Children On The Street' spend time on the street playing truant, hawking or being subjected to other forms of child labour - to assist in the household income. They're not entirely without protection from their families or guardians, to whom they return to at the end of the day to bath, eat, and sleep.

'Children Of The Street', on the other hand, are literally homeless: they're roofless and they're on their own. They're adjudged to be rootless because many do not know their families, and the ones that have left theirs homes view such ties in a negative manner. This group of street kids comprises mainly, abandoned, orphaned and runaway minors.

The street is the place where homeless kids live and struggle for existence on daily basis. Highly vulnerable to abuse, violence and all sorts of bad influences, they often suffer from depression, anxiety, and trauma. Physical injuries remain one of the leading causes of death among Children Of The Street.

Chinedu Dike

Monday 3 November 2025

Albinos On The Razor-edge Of Danger

At the behest of witch doctors headhunters are on the prowl.

They're watching, waiting, stalking and avoiding detection,

in hope of an ambush with a brutal ferocity.

Their bowie knives, and their gruesome machetes,

as sharp as a guillotine blade that is poised for execution,

certain to dismember any unfortunate victim

into chunks of bleeding flesh in a matter of seconds.

Faced with the looming menace many albinistic

persons are housebound in their homes,

swallowed up by anxiety and depression,

in a sustained state of fear for their own safety

and a deep sense of distrust for fellow beings.

But whenever compelled by a crucial necessity,

they would nervously venture out nonetheless.

Such unavoidable runs, risky as hell, can easily

deliver them into the grasps of the cruel fate.

The horrific butchering of persons with albinism

in some parts of Africa, with a single purpose

of harvesting their blood, internal organs,

and other body parts for sacrificial rituals,

has left so many of them revoltingly beheaded;

limps cut off; ears, breasts, and genitals sliced off;

hearts, kidneys, livers, and eyes gouged out —

while victims were still alive in many cases.

Some albinos are also known to have been

buried alive, as human-offerings, to appease

blood-thirsty deities or spirits. Even the ones

who are already deceased and interred are not

left to rest in peace, as their remains are being

dug up and robbed of hair, teeth and bones.

Myths have it that the blood, organs, and other

body parts of the albino can be used to harness

magical powers; that they are known to yield

powerful outcomes when used as ingredients

in preparing portions, charms or amulets, that

can bring riches, provide fortification against

harm, infuse extraordinary powers, or exorcise

ancestral wrath believed to be the root-cause of

the existential anxieties of those who use them.

In those African societies that seem full of myths

and witchcraft, the notion that albinistic people

are endowed with mystical powers is one that

is deeply entrenched in the public perception.

As old as generations this harmful superstition

is what, in recent years, increasing numbers of

sorcerers and criminal charlatans draw on to

trick people into the illusion of human sacrifice.

To validate the efficacy claims of such a weird

practice, these black magicians and con-artists,

who act as both traditional healers and holymen,

translate the existing legends and folklores

on potency of albino in dark magic into terms

that make sense to those who consult them.

Quite keen on making merchandise of persons

with albinism, the so-called witch doctors have

put a price on their heads — thus assigning

a commercial value to members of the group

in the eyes of predatory individuals, who are

lured into the clandestine trade in albinos

and their body parts to make quick money.

The tragic outcome of this bounty on albinos —

dead or alive, adults or children, is the rise of

criminal networks that revolve around witch

doctors, including scouters, body snatchers,

kidnappers, traffickers, killers, and others

who also play their part in sinister schemes

set up by the juju men to feather their nests

at the expense of their clients' murky motives.

The ritual murders of albinos in these societies

remain largely a crime driven by a boundless

quest to gratify out of reach gnawing-desires,

coupled with the widespread beliefs that such

sacrificial rituals work. These superstitions are

by no means limited to the chiefly uneducated,

poor masses, since so many of the clients who

patronize the greedy witch-doctors are people

of means from many different walks of life —

mostly those politicians and entrepreneurs

who believe that lucky talismans made from

albino body parts can make them win elections,

or usher in an era of boom in their business

ventures, by bewitching voters or prospects into

favouring their candidacies, goods or services.

This belief that people with albinism possess

special powers, that can bring success in just

about everything, is nothing short of lethal.

In the rural areas of some African countries

where everything that happens, whether

good or bad, is directly associated with the

intervention of the spirits, vicious onslaught

on albinistic persons appears to be rampant.

They are being hunted down and slaughtered

like animals by ritualistic criminals, who are all

linked to the trafficking networks contracted

or established by the traditional spirit healers

themselves to procure these 'commodities'.

Usually, based on the wishes of their clients,

the juju men will determine the body parts

needed to make a given type of potion, charm

amulet or talisman. Through the networks of

their criminal contacts, they will set in motion

a train of clandestine events which would

wind up either in severe maiming or murder

of ill-fated albino with an astonishing cruelty.

Homeless albinistic people, who used to roam

the streets and pathways of cities and villages

as beggers, bear the brunt of the brazen assaults.

With many of these exposed targets already

sent to their early graves; armed with knives,

machetes, and guns at times, human hunters

are now raiding secluded homes after sunset.

While at it they would forcefully abduct, or

kill and dismember their albino victims before

the eyes of their frequently injured and subdued

family members, who helplessly watch in horror

as human poachers make away with their trophies.

Most of these brutal attacks are against children,

not only because they are easier to abduct

but also due to a higher ritual value assigned

to their innocence, which is generally believed

to enhance the potency of ritual products.

In broad daylight albinistic kids are preyed on

while on their way to and from school.

Infants and toddlers are snatched away from

their mothers, who oftentimes have sustained

serous injuries in their brave but mostly futile

attempts to rescue crying babes from kidnappers.

Several cases have been recorded in which albino

mothers carrying their albino babes were

hacked to death and their bodies mutilated

alongside those of their murdered children.

Due to the misconception that albinistic women

and girls inhibit a cure for terminal diseases

including HIV and AIDS, they are as well being

targeted for ritual rape that sometimes result in

unwanted pregnancies or death of victims.

In those sub-Saharan African countries where

albinos amount to big money, their lives are

constant battles to evade bounty hunters.

Many of them have disappeared without a trace;

the remains of the ones who were later found

were recovered with some body parts missing —

depending on the kind of spell desired to be cast.

Some of the victims, who by a miraculous stroke

of luck survived from the almost certain death,

are left terribly disfigured and disabled for life.

In the most heartbreaking cases of hate crime

against albinos, they have often been abducted

and sold to trafficking networks by members of

their families such as fathers, uncles, partners,

or other relatives out of desperation for money.

In the East, Central and some parts of Southern

Africa, where black market exits for albinistic

persons and their body parts, they are being

trafficked within and across the porous borders

of countries of these neighbouring regions,

by the commercial trafficking networks hoping

that by selling a 'full set' of albino body parts

they can make money as high as 75,000 USD —

an immense fortune in these poor countries.

A living albino is said to be worth much more,

while single body parts such as arm, heart, or

head, can fetch several thousands of dollars.

These values make the underground trade in

albinos one of the most profitable and grisly

forms of human trafficking around the globe.

Ironically, in these improvished societies where

individuals with albinism are believed to be

a source of good fortune, they are at the same

time being demonized and also being targeted

for violent attacks because they are presumed

to be cursed beyond their 'ghostly' appearance.

Widely perceived as a haunted group of people

who are bearers of badlucks, albinistic persons,

as often as not, are being blamed for the outbreaks

of epidemic diseases, locust invasions, droughts,

floods, hurricanes, and other natural hazards

whose occurances are due to climatic factors.

It is this dehumanisation of the people living

with albinism that provides the rationale for

their stigmatization, making it all too easy to

justify all manner of prosecutions against them.

Albinos are the objects of emotional, verbal

and psychological abuse, often followed up

with the physical assaults they have to endure

in societies that would rather be without them.

This irrational hatred for people with albinism

implies that even the heinous crimes that are

being committed against them are largely met

by the callous indifference of their community

members, and not in any way deterred by the

erring inaction of the law enforcement officials —

many of who feel the same disdain for albinos.

Perhaps the worst act of betrayal many albinos

have to contend with is that from their blood

relatives who look at them as cosmic retribution.

Almost always the initial reaction to the birth of

a baby with a pale skin is one of shock disbelief

and humiliation from parents and close relatives.

Parents feel ashamed of their babies and fear

the social impacts of the unexpected birth.

Because such infants are believed to be potential

sources of calamities, they are at times banished,

abandoned, or killed after birth by their families

in an effort to root out the imagined threats.

In some places, even when close relatives are

fond of their albinistic baby, they can be forced

by their community members to give up the

infant for ritualistic killing as impelled by custom.

Because of widespread misapprehensions about

albinism and the patriarchal nature of most

African societies, as is the custom women are

the ones being blamed for giving birth to albino.

The accusation gets worse in families who

before the unusual birth had no albinistic

individuals in their traceable ancestries.

Cases abound of female spouses who have

been subjected to domestic violence, jilted, or

chased away by their husbands and in-laws —

who are convinced that such 'miscreant wives'

were accosted or had been unfaithful to have

delivered for them a baby with a pale skin.

Sometimes, though, there were accounts where

men accepted their baby and offered support.

This rejection of mothers and their albinistic

babies due to cultural taboos leaves them

exposed to increased levels of poverty, isolation,

and abuse in their communities, since no men

are there to protect them as their very own.

Historically, people with albinism seldom find

suitable, pigmented partners to date or marry.

Notwithstanding family objections against such

an 'unholy union', some, out of genuine love,

still go ahead to marry their albino sweethearts.

By defiling the odds to tie the knots, the albino

female spouses in particular often come face

to face with malicious, whispering campaigns

or direct accusation of witchcraft against them.

Because albinos are believed to be inhabited

by evil spirits that enable them to cause harm

to people and things, often their kit and kin

would blame them for having a hand in the

illness, untimely death, or any other forms

of misfortunes that may have befallen them.

Both as mothers of albinistic kids and mothers

who themselves have albinism, these sets of

women, who are badly impacted by the disorder,

often face such baseless but serious allegations

in many communities — where a claim that one

has bewitched another is usually enough for

banishment or lynching of the accused to occur.

Being the common pariah of the African societies

albinos are on the receiving end of social snub.

On daily basis, they face deprecating stares and

harassment from the public wherever they go.

Quite often, they are denied entry or kicked out

of shops, restaurants, taverns, hotels, saloons

and other such public places by the owners.

As one would expect under these dire circumstances,

businesses set up by albinos hardly ever succeed.

For the same reason of albinos being bad omens,

families who have such a member struggle to

find housing to rent, and tenants who welcome

an albinistic baby face eviction by their landlords.

Denial of access to public transport adds another

layer of challenge for albinos: in some places,

many buses and taxis do not stop to pick them up.

Even in places of worship like shrines, mosques,

temples and churches, where one would expect

to find comfort in the midst of prosecution

and isolation, albinos are as well being treated

as outcasts on the basis of their skin colour.

Surprisingly, the ugly stereotyping and prejudice

against albinistic individuals are also common

in the healthcare setting. Because numerous

healthcare providers are biologically naive

about the natural causes of albinism, day in

day out they blatantly violate albinos' right

to life and dignity. Even in hospitals or clinics

where the medical personnel are reasonably

informed about the true nature of albinism,

this knowledge runs parallel with the harmful

superstitions that border on witchcraft — since

these health workers are products of society.

Their negative attitudes towards albinos are

clearly visible in their verbal abuses and their

reluctance to attend to albinistic patients,

not to mention their often unjustified denial

of medical treatment to members of the group.

Because of the ill-founded belief that albinism

can be transmitted to a foetus in the womb —

if a pregnant woman and an albino came into

a close proximity to each other, expectant

mothers who have the disorder are often

prevented from integrating at maternity homes.

Due to the fear induced by the cultural taboos

surrounding albinism, medical assistants and

nurses often refuse to touch, weigh, dress,

or carry albinistic babies in the delivery room,

thus abandoning their weak and exhausted

mothers to manage on their own after labour.

In no small measure this systematic exclusion

of albinistic individuals from proper medical

attention contributes to a very high incidence

of skin cancer among albinos living in Africa.

The legends associated with albinism in africa

have a negative impact on the lives of people

with the birth defect, from the moment of their

birth until their death. They grow up feeling

bad about themselves and, constantly, they

walk on eggshells always struggling to fit in

and be accepted in societies that are very

hostile towards them. Due to the high level

of illiteracy on the continent most albinos

do not know why they were 'born too light',

neither do their mothers who had either

given birth to them at home, or in a maternity

clinic where they had been hastily discharged

with no form of counselling received after birth.

Scientifically proven to be of genetic origin,

albinism is a partial or total lack of melanin

pigment responsible for tanning the skin and

for giving the eyes and hair their colouration.

For a child to be burn with the condition both

parents must carry the gene that transmits

albinism for it to be passed on, regardless of

whether they themselves are albinos or not.

Albinism is found in all ethnicities and races

around the globe and within the animal world.

The absence or insufficient supply of melanin,

a substance that also protects the skin cells

against harmful ultraviolet rays, implies that

those living with the disorder are prone to

developing sunburn, blisters, and skin cancer.

Due to an elevated sensitivity to glare which

reduces their range of sight, albinos have a blurry

vision of things around them and experience life

in a state of 'partial blindness' without glasses.

People with the congenital oddity experience

various forms of bias against them, in differing

degrees of harshness by nations, worldwide.

In the western world, where they are better off

and often go unnoticed due to their close

outward form with that of the general public,

discrimination against them is mostly based on

their poor eyesight. A typical example would

be the refusal of driving licence to members of

the group in some of these advanced nations.

Discounting that, individuals living with the

condition in these deveoped countries are well

integrated into the main stream societies —

where state-support systems are in place

to assist them in those aspects of their lives

that pose challenges to their lifelong disability.

As a result, albinos in the western world are

able to go after their dreams and aspirations.

Being as healthy as everyone else they lead

meaning full lives with the normal live spans,

having adapted quite well to their disabilities.

On the contrary, in Africa, where anti-albinism

runs deep, the stripping of albinistic people of

their humanity virtually affects every aspect

of their lives. So many of them, for example,

have been denied access to education because

they are generally thought to be dullards and

inept beings who cannot cope in school or in jobs —

hence a waste of their families' merge resources.

This false impression stems from their usually

poor academic records and high dropout rates.

Far from being unintelligent group of people,

African albinos can be as talented as everyone

else; their dismal scholastic achievement is

mainly due to the various barriers that militate

against their educational progress such as

ill-suited learning environment, the dearth of

teaching provisions, and their inability to access

optical aids for the enhancement of their eyesight.

On top of everything, stake holders in education

sector including policy makers, administrators,

school authorities and teachers, who are largely

uninitiated about the learning needs of albinistic

pupils, pay no attention to the visual problems

the learners face in class without contact lenses

by not offering to them extra help nor support.

Because most albinistic children are afflicted with

rapid eye movements that make letters of texts

become shaky, the unavailability of textbooks

with enlarged prints means that they are unable

to see clearly what they are reading or writing.

In addition to that, the fact that such learners

are not given the privilege of sitting in positions

where they can see best in classrooms puts a

further strain on their vision of the chalkboard.

The school experience of albinos are worsened

by stigma which paves way for their isolation,

ridicule and bullying, that come from teachers,

schoolmates and, especially, their classmates

many of who do not want sit next to them.

With only a few willing to befriend them or

shoulder the burden of being their teachers,

albinistic learners are left feeling inadequate,

lonely and alienated in school. This situation

not only frustrates them, it also affects their

self-confidence and academic performance.

These difﬁculties, along with the problem of

albinos being abducted from schools for ritual

purposes, are mainly the reasons why most

of them end up as primary school dropouts.

This lack of education means that a massive

majority of people with albinism are qualified

only for menial jobs, in which they often have

to work outdoors without sufficient protection

against cancer-causing rays of the scorching sun —

their 'silent' and number one killer in Africa.

Through a brutal discrimination that deprives

them of the economic tools and social skills

that are needed to live productives lives,

the albinistic people, already restricted in their

job choices due to a low tolerance for the

sun’s harmful radiation, are left hopelessly

jobless and miserably consigned to poverty

with no means of sustenance whatsoever.

Only a negligible fraction of them living mostly

in the cities are able to access health checks,

with countless number of others unable to afford

simple remedies like sun-protective garments,

sunscreen creams, sunglasses, wide-brimmed

hats and umbrellas — all collectively vital for

them to live healthy lives in the sunny continent.

With these life-saving means out of the reach

of most, and the fact that little or no guidelines

exist about skin cancer risks and prevention,

an overwhelming majority of albinos living in

Africa die prematurely before the age of forty

due to skin cancer, according to estimates.

While people with albinism once had to only

avoid the blazing African sun and the bullying

they have to stomach in their communities,

they have in recent times withdrawn into their

homes in the face of more frightening threats:

of sexual violence, abduction, horrifying death,

and mutilation of their bodies by ritualistic killers.

But even there, in their homes, they aren’t safe.

Clearly trapped in the dark side of magical belief,

albinos pay a hefty price for superstition in Africa.

Theirs is a life on the razor-edge of danger.

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