My Albino Children: Black Brazilian Family Have Three White-Skinned Children

When Rosamere Fernanda de Andrade first held her newborn baby she assumed there had been a mix up.  Rosamere and ex-husband, Joao, are both black - but their daughter, Ruth, had white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. But it was no mistake - Ruth, suffers from a rare generic condition called albinism and has no skin pigment. Since then Rosamere, 31, has had two more albino children as well as three black kids. So stark is the difference between Rosamere and three of her children, she is often mistaken for their nanny.

Albinism is a condition characterized by the absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes - which leaves sufferers exposed to a range of afflictions. The youngsters are so sensitive to sunlight that they need factor 100 sun block every two hours - and only allowed to play outdoors at night. 

The family's neighbors have started to avoid them, saying they were cursed. Ruth, Estefani and Kauan have all been bullied at school for their light skin, the white hair and they way they squint at the blackboard, because albinism affects their eyesight as well. The lack of pigment in the irises (the colored part of the eye) sometimes may make them look transparent, because the irises can't block light from entering the eye completely.

Videographer: Laurentiu Garofeanu
Producer: Jack McKay
Editor: Joshua Douglas / Ian Phillips