When you’re young, having your parents around makes you feel safe.
If you have to grow up without your parents or you know they left you, you might grow up with anger toward them.
Xueli Abbing is 16 years old and was born in China. Her parents left her when she was born. She was left at the door of an orphanage, and no one had any idea who her parents were.
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She was given her name by the people who worked at the orphanage. “Xue” means “snow,” and “Li” means “beautiful.” Because she was born with albinism, this was her name.
Albinism is a genetic condition that makes a person’s skin, hair, and eyes pale. It is caused by a lack of the pigment melanin, which makes the skin, hair, and eyes pale.
She was given a good home by a family in the Netherlands who took her in. When she was 11, a designer in Hong Kong asked her to be his model for a photo shoot where he wanted to show different kinds of beauty.
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In an interview with the BBC, Abbing said, “She called the campaign “Perfect Imperfections,” and asked me if I wanted to be in her fashion show in Hong Kong.” “That was an incredible thing to do,” she said.
In many parts of the world, people with albinism are treated badly because of their skin colour. They are sometimes even “hunted” because people think their bones can be used to make medicines. “It’s a good thing I was only left behind,” Abbing has said.
Even models with albinism are sometimes used as props to show angels or ghosts, which makes Abbing sad.
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But Abbing was lucky to work with a photographer from London who treated her like any model should be treated. A beautiful photo shoot was the result. Even Vogue Italia bought one of the photos to use in its June 2019 issue.
“At the time, I didn’t know how important the magazine was, and it took me a while to understand why people were so excited about it,” says.
For Abbing, being a model has its own challenges. She can only see between 8 and 10%, so it hurts her to look directly at a camera flash. But she keeps going because she wants to be a role model for people like her who aren’t what most people think of as beautiful.
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“There are still models who are like 8’2″ and skinny, but now there are more stories about people with disabilities or differences, which is great, but it should be the norm,” she said in the interview.
“Maybe I pay more attention to people’s voices and what they have to say because I can’t see everything well,” she said. “So I care more about how they look on the inside,” she says.
She wants to improve the world and teach people about her condition. She says, “I want to talk about albinism through modelling to show that it is a genetic disorder and not a curse.” “It’s better to say “a person with albinism” than “an albino” because the latter sounds like it defines who you are.
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“I can’t believe kids are being killed because they have albinism. She said, “I want to change the world.”
We hope that Xueli Abbing has the best time on her trip. We are sure that she will motivate and teach a lot of people all over the world.
Tell your friends and family about her story to help them get inspired.