A New Netflix Film Inspired by Fellowship Alumnus

2018 Fellowship Alumnus John Chiti was born with albinism, a congenital condition of having no pigment in the skin or hair, which appear white. His life is the inspiration behind a film that’s new to Netflix called Can You See Us?, chronicling the life of a boy who grows up with albinism in Zambia.

John founded the Albinism Foundation of Zambia, an organization that works to fight discrimination and secure equal rights for those with albinism and is serving as ambassador for the African Disability Protocol.

“People are seeing me on TV, listening to my music. So when they see [a person who’s albino] in the streets, it’s no longer a strange thing because we have people with albinism in the limelight,” John says.

Learn more about John Chiti’s life and the new film in this article from NPR’s Goats and Soda.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by IREX.  The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Government.