Meet the Ghanaian nurse & model who is fighting against discrimination with rare skin condition(Vitiligo)

Having a defect that causes people to look at you differently can really be traumatizing. At a point the stigma related to certain conditions can drive people to live a life of solitude – a life away from the glaring eye of the public.
Even though Enam Heikeens Honya suffers from a rare skin condition, she has not allowed her condition to push her into silence. She has taken it upon herself to become an ambassador for persons with the skin condition known widely as vitiligo. I, @isaacgh was fortunate to meet this lady in 2013 during my clinical attachment at the Accra Psychiatry Hospital, Accra, Ghana. She was a lovely person and full of life. In a special report made by Pulse.com representative Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu, it is reported that Enam who is a nurse in Ho in the Volta Region is a vitiligo ambassador in Ghana. The 24-year old health worker who doubles as a model has taken it upon herself to use her condition to create awareness about the rare skin condition and also to break the discrimination that comes with the condition. In recounting her story while growing up, Enam indicated that when the pigmentation of her skin started changing, she was taken to the hospital where doctors indicated that she was fine even though the condition was spreading.
She revealed that many of her friends did not want to play with her or even sit by her in class; a situation she considered very traumatizing even though it was no fault of hers. She recounted that she was so depressed that she tried taking her own life a number of times because of the stigma. Enam indicated that she harbored ambitions of being on TV but she has found her way into the health industry because she wanted to learn more about her condition when she was in High School. She said even at work, there were a few challenges she faced with colleagues and even patients due to her condition. She said there was an instance where a patient wanted another nurse to attend to her because of her skin condition. Enam added that some children who visited the hospital ended up crying when they saw her for the first time but later become comfortable enough to want to play with her skin. Enam said she decided to go into modelling to tell a story with her skin condition and to also get people to stop discriminating against people with vitiligo.