Panama: The islands home to hundreds of albinos who must hide from the tropical sun [Photos]

[Judi Lynn]

Panama: The islands home to hundreds of albinos who must hide from the tropical sun [Photos]
By David Sim
June 11, 2015 17:42 BST


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Four albino sisters – Iveily, Donilcia, Jade and Yaisseth Morales – pose for a photograph with their mother, brothers and sisters outside their house on Ustupu Island in the Guna Yala region of Panama(Carlos Jasso/Reuters)
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For years, the alabaster-skinned people born on this sun-scorched constellation of islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama have been venerated as the the Children of the Moon or the Grandchildren of the Sun. But that same sun is also their greatest foe.

More than half of the region's albinos suffer some form of skin cancer, said Jose Jons, a doctor on the island of Ustupu, compared with an incidence of less than 1% in the global population, according to World Health Organization figures.


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Kipigaliler Harris, five, stands with friends and relatives outside his house on Ogobsugun Island in the Guna Yala region of Panama (Carlos Jasso/Reuters)
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Yaisseth Morales, 11, sits in her classroom at the local school on Ustupu Island (Carlos Jasso/Reuters)
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More:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/panama-islands-home-hundreds-albinos-who-must-hide-tropical-sun-photos-1505673

[xfundy]

1. That would be a hard existence.

Staying in the dark while everyone else is working/playing outside. It's good that they're venerated, though -- I understand in some African nations they're hunted for "magical" body parts.