She stared in the mirror for hours, looking at herself. The sun glowed on her dark chocolate skin; she was so beautiful. “Why am I black?” she would ask herself.
Her name was Glenda Smith but her original birth name was Nakonia.
She was born in Ghana and her parents died while she was very young. Glenda was adopted by white people in South Africa. She had never had a problem with her skin, until she went to high school. Having white parents meant attending a private school with white kids. Glenda was the only black person in her class and in her entire school. She didn’t have friends at all; making friends was the last thing on Glenda’s mind.
She had never felt so judged about her skin colour. Other kids would tease her and make jokes about how dark she was. Others said she was born near the sun and that’s why she was that dark. When she sat in front in class, they would complain that she was way too dark so they couldn’t see the chalkboard clearly. Glenda would sit at the back of her class and she would also have her lunch in the bathrooms because she was tired of being judged.
She always dreaded going to school but her parents forced her to go.
She tried with all her might to fake sicknesses but always got busted. Glenda’s family was rich; they provided for all her needs, she lacked nothing. If only she was adopted by black parents, maybe things would be different or maybe if she had been white. All this ruined her relationship with her parents and she started to dislike them.
She hated being adopted. She always contemplated about doing something about her skin colour. Glenda bottled up all these feelings inside and never talked to anyone. Her diary was the only place where she expressed her feelings; her only friend and shoulder to cry on. Nobody understood her like her diary.
She wrote about everything; the schools she went to, the kids who bullied her and her loving family. She would sometimes put on her mother’s make up whenever she was home alone. She looked like a ghost but she didn’t mind. She would sleep with it in case a miracle happened that she woke up white. Her bathroom was filled with clear skin products. Some of them gave her skin rash but she didn’t care much.
One day Glenda decided to bleach her skin. She knew this would take time and she wanted a fast makeover. She started researching quick ways to bleach her skin. Glenda spent hours on her computer searching quick ways to bleach her skin.
After some time she saw an ad about a doctor who was said to work miracles. Apparently the doctor was very cheap and quite good at his job, said the ad. It seemed like a very good option to Glenda. She planned to go see this doctor without anyone knowing.
She bunked school the following day to go see the doctor.
“No one will even notice that I’m absent,” she said to herself.
She planned to use up her allowance money for the all expenses. When she arrived in Joburg she got lost. She tried to find the place and ended up using her phone’s GPS. It took her to a very creepy block of flats which reeked of urine. Some of the windows were broken; you’d swear that nobody stayed there. She saw a guy outside the flat; he looked like an addict. She was scared but she needed to find the place.
She asked him if he knew Dr Loko and the guy said he would tell her if she gave him her numbers. Glenda was now creped out. She wanted to turn back but before she did the guy grabbed her.
“Okay, just give me R50 I’ll show you,”
Glenda had no choice. She gave him and the guy directed her to the third floor.
She got there and knocked. A very tall, dark man with glasses opened up.
“What can I do for you sister?” He asked in a very weird accent.
“Can I come in first?” asked Glenda, who was now terrified. The man let her in and she told him that she wanted to change her skin colour to be lighter. She said if he could manage white, she could double the price.
This guy didn’t even look like a doctor, he was just too shabby. He wore baggy black jeans, a white vest and he had lots of chains on his neck. He looked as if he was stashing something away because the room was mixed up. White powder was also spilled on the floor and Dr Loko saw that Glenda was looking curious.
“Sorry for the mess, I was looking for my glasses and I accidentally spilled some aspirin on the floor,” he explained.
Well, it didn’t make sense to Glenda and it didn’t matter too, so she just nodded. After Glenda’s valid reason for the visit the Doctor gave her a weird smile and said,
“I’ve just what you need sister,” said the doctor. “I once healed a young girl with skin problem back home and I got rewarded too,” he added.
He showed her some certificates which looked legit, to her. She didn’t want to know any story about the doctor, she just wanted to do the surgery and go home.
***
Tell us: What do you think of what Glenda is about to do? Would you do it?