An interracial couple has said their daughter, who has albinism, has faced disgusting racial abuse due to the colour of her skin.
Marwa Houma, 33, from Croydon, South , who is white, shares daughter Julia-Marie with her civil partner Malcolm John, 60, who is of black Caribbean heritage.
Julia-Marie, now 15 months, was born with blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin, and doctors later diagnosed her with albinism, pornoviking.com a condition affecting one in every 17,000 people.
Marwa said strangers struggle to believe Malcom is their daughter’s father and look at him like he has ‘kidnapped’ the baby.
She added their little girl has been subject to horrific abuse because of her looks.
Marwa Houma, 33, from Croydon, South London, who is white, shares daughter Julia-Marie with her civil partner Malcolm John, 60, who is of black Caribbean heritage
Julia Marie, now 15 months, was born with blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin, and doctors later diagnosed her with albinism, a condition affecting one in every 17,000 people
‘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?”,’ she explained.
‘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.
‘People need to know you don’t need to be black to be racially abused. You can be white, have blonde hair and blues eyes, and still be abused for your skin colour.’
She continued: ‘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.
Marwa said her bubbly tot has faced vicious discrimination – particularly when she steps out with her loving father
When Julia-Marie was born in June last year, she was stunned by her extremely pale skin tone and piercing blue eyes, which didn’t match her parent’s features
Marwa found out her daughter had ‘OCA1’, meaning she could contract skin cancer if she’s exposed to direct sun and needs to wear glasses
‘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 reprisals.