OJO MONDAY EKO ONI GBA GBA KUGBA OH

Fela's song screamed from the radio as I hurried my way to my interview. I hated Mondays in Lagos due to its rowdiness, I still do because it's not better, except during festive periods anyway.

I was praying I get a bus easily because I would not want to be late. I got to the bus stop and was surprised to see people were very slow in entering a bus, I wondered what was happening but I didn't stop to think, I rushed into the bus but stopped in shock.

There was a man at the far end, he had vitiligo, the condition was very obvious and all over his skin. I went in and sat beside him, that was when the others rushed. Then I thought, I don't know about this condition, what if it's contagious and I was sitting right beside him, I just couldn't bear the stigmatization.

We exchanged money in the process of paying for the fare and I was really nervous, I was surprised seeing lots of cash with him, I don't know why I imagined he'd be poor.
There and then, I chatted a friend about the condition and he told me it was not contagious, would have browsed online but the name was not occurring to me then. So, I relaxed until we got to the bus stop.

I kept thinking about the man on my way and I couldn't help but pity him.
Anyway, I got to my interview quite early but I met a very large number of people outside the building. I approached them hoping they were not there for the interview but alas they were, some had been there since 6am. I couldn't imagine how they would interview everyone that day, so I decided to leave, a girl told me to hold on and see what will happen when the interview starts.

So I stood really close to the door, it was opened few minutes later and the 10 people close to the door were asked to file in, the attendance written was not used. I was overjoyed and I hurried inside.

I was the third to be interviewed, It was a panel interview made up of a woman and two men. I was shocked when I saw the 'vitiligo man' from the bus, I was a bit destabilized but they made me comfortable and the interview went smoothly. At the end of the session, the 'vitiligo man' whose name I found out was Mr Atikah narrated his experience with me on his way there that morning and I could feel my face flush. I felt really good about myself while I left, glad I was able to be of help to someone.

Story by Mariam Haruna
Haroonmareeam3@gmail.com

Mnhn! There are a lot of people with vitiligo around us, I get chatty with them when I see them, it's just unnecessary stigmatization they enjoy. Op it's good to be good, you never can tell who the next person is.