Two parents say their baby is already experiencing racial abuse – aged just 15 months.
Marwa Houma, 33, expected baby Julia-Marie to share skin tones with her and her civil partner, Malcolm John, 60 – she is white and he is Black.
However, the baby was born with blonde hair, blue-eyes and pale skin.
Tests revealed Julia-Marie has albinism, a condition affecting one in every 17,000 people.
Already, the child has faced discrimination – especially when she’s out with her father.
For a start, Julia-Maria has been called names and people have even questioned whether John is her dad.
Marwa said: ‘Every time I take Julia outside, people don’t look at me because I’m fair-skinned, but when they look at Malcolm with Julia, it’s like “what’s that man doing with that baby?”
‘People would stare at him as though he kidnapped the baby, and I felt for him, but he couldn’t express it.
‘As a parent, I need to be brave and fight for my daughter’s future. Our fear is that Julia would get bullied about her glasses and condition.’
Full-time mum Marwa, from Croydon, South London, fell pregnant with her first child in 2020.
She said: ‘She was born completely white, like pale with blonde hair and blue eyes.
‘I was expecting to have a mixed-race baby because her father is of Black Caribbean heritage.’
Marwa said doctors and nurses at the hospital failed to identify the rare condition.
It was only two months later when a GP spotted it, who then issued warnings about the dangers she could face to her health in the future.
Marwa found out her daughter had ‘OCA1’, meaning she could contract skin cancer if she’s exposed to direct sunlight and needs to wear glasses.
Marwa explained: ‘The GP told me Julia needs to be fully protected from the sun otherwise she’ll get skin cancer, and she would need glasses as her vision will never be 100% and there is no cure for albinism.
‘She also can’t open her eyes outside because of the bright light, she has photophobia [a fear of the light]. This is where my battle started.’
Albinism affects the production of melanin, which determines someone’s hair, eye and skin colour and makes those with the condition particularly susceptible to sunlight.
Marwa has become ‘paranoid’ about protecting her child from the sun.
But on the occasions they do step out as a family, Marwa soon noticed how Malcolm and Julia-Marie became targets for discrimination due to their differences.
She said: ‘We once had an incident at the hospital. She was six months old and crying, so I said, “I’m going to take her to the car and feed her and you can pick up the prescription”.
‘But the lady at the chemist wouldn’t take Malcolm seriously. She said, “call the mother, so I can confirm her date of birth”. She wouldn’t believe this is the father.
‘He was fuming, and he had to come all the way to the car park and say, “could you come upstairs and confirm Julia’s date of birth”.’
Marwa said her daughter had also been branded a ‘white monkey’ in a vile racist outburst, leading her to report a hate crime to police and fear future incidents.
She added: ‘I stopped taking Julia out completely. Enough of the intimidation!’
Despite this, Julia has gone on to start a successful baby modelling career.
Marwa now wants more people to be aware of the medical truths surrounding albinism and to crack down on the abuse that many people face with the condition.
She said: ‘Quite often these subjects are swept under the carpet and people don’t often talk about it. This is a lack of knowledge.
‘I knew very little about it, hence why I struggled during my postnatal period.
‘As a parent, we want to raise awareness about everything we’ve learnt since Julia was born.
‘People need to understand what albinism is and the origin of the disorder. It’s not contagious and it’s not a disability.
‘In 2022, it’s sad to say, there’s still discrimination, and not only white people can be racist.
‘There’s racism in every single race. We need to stand for our Julia.’
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