Dark skinned red heads

The conductor on my “mikrolet” this morning was a red headed freckle skinned Timorese man! It is most extraordinary but I have seen at least half a dozen red headed freckle skinned Timorese including children and adults. At first I thought that they had died their hair blonde but things had gone wrong but no, they are definitely true red heads. It is very interesting to note that dark skinned people can have red hair and freckles because I always thought it was a genetic trait confined to white skinned folk. Not so! The conductor had obviously been sunburnt on his face and his skin was peeling away to reveal bright pink flesh. Although dark skinned, he really needed to wear sunscreen. I can only guess that this genetic trait has been passed on through generations of intermarriage with Portuguese (or am I wrong on that one?).

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)