Albino Student: I Was Denied Entry To Five Schools

A 15-year-old albino student has told the BBC about her struggles to find a place at a secondary school in Kenya.

Despite her top grades, five schools rejected Winnie Jelimo.

One school openly said they wouldn't give her a place because of her albinism.

"I felt very bad because they were admitting others but didn't admit me to school," she told the BBC's Focus on Africa.

She says it was a shock to her as she had not come up against such open discrimination before.

"Albinos can also learn and be like others… Albinism is just a colour, everything else is the same," the teenager said.

She said she was happy to report that she had now been offered a place at Kapkenda Girls High School in the western town of Chepkorio.

She has also been given a four-year scholarship to finish her secondary education - thanks to the Albinism Society of Kenya in collaboration with Kenya’s Education Fund.

“It is wonderful, they felt very angry when they heard about Winnie’s case,” her father Samuel Rotich said.