From Tanzania, With Love

  • Jess Meyer
  • Emily Ward
  • Katie Logue
  • Kevin Arulrajah
  • Camille Walala
  • Sabine Zetteler
Founded by filmmaker Harry Freeland, Standing Voice is an international NGO that provides medical and educational support to people with albinism, as well as combatting the stigma that those with the condition face. Part of their work hinges on building skills and confidence within the community, in order to break the cycle of exclusion and misunderstanding. As part of its wellbeing programme, the charity runs Summer Skills workshops, inviting creatives to its HQ on Ukerewe Island to share the joy of making through hands-on art and design classes. This year artist Camille Walala and her collaborator Julia Jomaa, printmaker Alex Booker, designer-maker Simon Sawyer and four-strong Zetteler squad travelled to Tanzania to run and assist the Summer Skills workshops, as well as revamp the centre. Here’s what happened on this incredible trip.
Arriving in Mwanza slightly blurry eyed from 24-hours of travelling, we awoke the next day overexcited and disorientated. After collecting materials for the Summer Skills Workshop 2018 such as buckets of paint, stationery and timber, we boarded the ferry to Tanzania’s Ukerewe Island which sits in the middle of Lake Victoria. The ferry reminded me of Noah and the Ark – the sheer mass of belongings could have lasted the passengers a lifetime. People had brightly coloured fruit baskets, suitcases of all shapes and sizes, sofas, and crates of miscellaneous items which I couldn’t begin to name. Climbing onto the roof of the ferry, we towered over Lake Victoria, a vast expanse of water which didn’t have a beginning or end.
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