There’s a painful scene in Netflix’s new drama, Can You See Us?, when the protagonist, Joseph, is attacked by men who pin him down and hack at his leg with a knife.
John Chiti, the man on whom Joseph is based, remembers this incident well. It happened when he was 15 and walking home with a friend after playing football in the Copperbelt province in Zambia. The men who attacked him had been tracking his movements for some time.
Chiti screamed and his friend shouted. Passersby heard the noise and came to their rescue. “I was saved by a passersby. People came on time. If they had not, it was going to be too late for me,” says Chiti.
Can You See Us? tells the story of Joseph, a boy with albinism who is rejected by his father at birth and goes on to become a famous singer. It is based on Chiti’s remarkable life.
While some scenes have been embellished, Chiti has overcome family rejection and discrimination to became a successful musician in Zambia. He is one of about 25,000 people in the country who live with albinism, caused by a lack of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes, which often leads to poor vision and heightens the risk of skin cancer.
Some believe the body parts of people with albinism can stave off ancestral wrath and cure everything from male impotence to poverty, which makes them targets of extreme violence. Some have had their arms and legs cut off. Last year, the UN human rights office said it received reports of 600 attacks against people with albinism.
Chiti’s father divorced his mother after he was born. He met his father when he was sent to live with him at the age of eight after his mother died. His father had remarried, and Chiti found it difficult to fit in.
He discovered he was the reason his parents divorced soon after he was born. “That destroyed my confidence. I started blaming myself,” he says. “If I was born black or not born at all, my parents would have been happily married. There was something wrong with me.”
After “having so many problems at home”, he was sent to boarding school, which he says saved me him.
While he was at home for the holidays, a man visiting the neighbourhood heard him singing. “He told me I had a nice voice and encouraged me. He was the first person who told me that, and I believed him. He told me to continue pushing.”
Chiti had been discouraged from singing and pursuing his interest in music by teachers, who told him to concentrate on academic work. This man’s encouragement spurred him on.
He learned to play the guitar and joined a band. He started attending gigs when he moved to a school in Lusaka, the capital. At 17, he recorded his first song, and went on to produce five solo albums, becoming a household name in Zambia.
“I produced an album which became a hit and people were amazed by my talent,” he says. “That is where things turned around; people realised I’m a normal person.”
Chiti, who is married with two children, no longer feels like an outsider. He has reconciled with his father and forgiven his family for their behaviour. “My family was challenged to say, ‘Oh wow, he’s a musician now’. They realised I was someone they could be proud of, and my father apologised for his mistakes.”
As well as making music, in 2008 Chiti founded the Albinism Foundation of Zambia, an organisation that supports people and campaigns for their rights. He is an ambassador of the Sightsavers’ Equal World campaign, which is calling for governments to ratify the African Disability Protocol to protect the rights of people with disabilities. Zambia has yet to sign it.
Chiti is hopeful that the government will improve the situation for people with albinism, which is better than it was in towns and cities, but not in rural areas. “There is hope that this new government is going to be positive,” he says.
Last year, he was appointed to the Police Service Commission, a civilian body that has oversight of the police. He will use his new role to continue campaigning.
He says the response to Can You See Us? has been “overwhelming”. People have told Chiti they watched in tears, and many want to know more about albinism. Politicians, musicians, comedians and celebrities from across Africa have shared it on social media.
“I didn’t expect these overwhelming responses. I’m amazed and really happy it has happened,” says Chiti. “[The film] has lifted our flag higher. Zambia has been put on the map, and many people are knowing about our country.”
He adds: “I have a fire inside me that burns. Sometimes I cry, but I stand up and move on. Sometimes I am sad, but I will be strong and smile. I like to forge ahead. To me, albinism is nothing. I have understood, accepted it and lived with it.”
Can You See Us? is now out on Netflix
