Forging paths for inclusion and empowerment

In 2006, film-maker Harry Freeland arrived on a remote island in the heart of Tanzania’s Lake Victoria, tasked with making a documentary for the BBC about people living with albinism. His experience was so life-changing that he went on to found Standing Voice, a human rights charity that provides medical and educational support to those with the condition, as well as fighting the stigma that those with albinism face.

Made over six years, Harry’s film In the Shadow of the Sun follows the lives of two inspiring men with albinism – Josephat and Vedastus – who bravely refuse to accept the prejudice levelled against them. So inspiring was their resistance and so important their work, that Harry strove to channel the enormous energy surrounding the film’s release into a new project – the charity Standing Voice.

Today Standing Voice promotes the social inclusion and wellbeing of people with albinism, providing essential healthcare and educational services as well as building skills and confidence within the community. As part of the latter, the charity runs Summer Skills workshops, which invites creatives to impart their knowledge and share the joy of making through hands-on art and design classes.

What benefit do the workshops bring to the Ukerewe community?

Ukerewe has a deep and long history of discrimination against people with albinism. When I first arrived on the Island in 2006 I found unfathomable stigma: people abused and abandoned by their families, locked out of employment and dying of skin cancer. Some were forced to eat away from others, with separate bowls and utensils.

To bridge this divide and build a platform for reintegration, Standing Voice established the Umoja Training Centre in 2016, a community training facility providing skills development and economic enrichment to people with albinism and their friends, families, and wider community members on Ukerewe. It offered a second chance for so many people with albinism who lost out on education in childhood.

What sort of outcomes did you see from the Summer Skills workshops in 2017?

In June 2017, Standing Voice launched its inaugural Summer Skills Workshop, an integrated training programme, based at the Umoja Training Centre, that helps the community to develop skills and pursue income-generating opportunities and pathways of professional development. Over six days, we brought together renowned artists, actors, researchers, broadcasters, photographers, tailors and musicians, and connected these professionals to people with albinism and their peers on Ukerewe.

Eighty-five people received specialist training, and hundreds more attended our International Albinism Awareness Day celebrations on June 13. Because of these workshops, six brand new income-generating and community groups have been established on Ukerewe Island: The Upendo Printers, The Tunajitambua Tailors, The Umoja Photographers, The Hadithi Group (Storytelling & Performance), The Young Reporters (Radio) and The Undaji Club (Arts & Crafts).

The works these groups have created – from woodcut prints, radio programmes, public engagement performances, bags, dresses, paintings – were exhibited at the Umoja Centre for the whole community to see. The centre will train thousands of people in the years ahead, arming this community with the tools to determine its own future.

Why do you think the workshops were so successful?

What makes the Summer Skills Workshop so unique is its psychosocial impact. It’s hard to think of another issue in this world where human empathy is as lacking as it is in the plight of people with albinism in Africa. It’s hard enough for this population to face skin cancer, low life expectancy, poor eyesight and therefore poor learning – these are tough material challenges. And yet, to be hated, ostracised, abandoned at birth and possibly hunted for their body parts, that is unthinkable. By including people with albinism as valued contributors to society, empowering them to train in concrete skills, and to partake in creative expression, these workshops forge a path not only to economic empowerment but also to social inclusion. They strike at the core of ignorance and place people with albinism at the centre of their own narrative. That is why they are so powerful.

What makes you excited about the artists taking part this year?

This year we’re beyond excited to be welcoming graphic artist Camille Walala and her collaborator Julia Jomaa and designer and fabricator Simon Sawyer to Tanzania. Also returning will be renowned printmaker and woodcut artist Alex Booker. Bringing these talented artists to Tanzania and placing them in cultural dialogue with some of this world’s most marginalised people is an endeavour I’m humbled to be leading. We don’t yet know what creative possibilities will be unleashed, but we can be sure that the works created, and memories made, will last a lifetime.

The project is set to culminate in a London exhibition in November – what might visitors expect to see there? And what do you hope the exhibition to achieve?

This special exhibition will not only feature the creations of the Ukerewe community, but will bring together renowned artists from across the globe to create works around the theme of albinism.

Expect photography, woodcut prints, film, radio, music, ceramics, textiles and paintings – all of these will be included in the diverse body of work on display. All works will be available to buy in a special auction to raise funds for the charity to continue supporting these remarkable individuals. It will be the first time members of the community have had their work exhibited internationally. It’s also my hope that we’ll raise the funds to bring some of these individuals with albinism over to join us in the UK for the opening night.

Standing Voice runs many different programmes – do you find it easier to get support for the more ‘direct-impact’ projects, such as vision and cancer prevention, than ‘softer’, more long-term community and social initiatives like this one?

Generally, the difficulties facing people with albinism are overlooked by large, mainstream NGOs. These organisations tend to focus on more universal, pan-African issues such as hunger or HIV. As a small organisation, we are focused on a highly specific issue, but one where the efforts of a grassroots organisation like ours can have a significant impact.

Even within the issue of albinism – itself under-funded and under-exposed – we’ve found issues of economic empowerment and livelihood to be especially off the radar. The violence facing people with albinism, which has a certain currency in the media, or the more concrete issues of skin cancer and visual impairment often provide a simpler lens through which to view this issue. It’s a challenge – but a rewarding one – to think more deeply and structurally about the opportunities afforded to people with albinism: issues of training, employment, production, creative expression, and the impact of all of these on psychosocial health and community belonging. The Summer Skills Workshop is trying to plug a gap in current provisions for people with albinism in Tanzania. We’re delighted that Zetteler is joining forces with Standing Voice to make that happen.