6th July 2018

From Tanzania, With Love

- by India

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.

Leticia and I mid-painting session.

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.

The Umoja Training Centre.

At the Umoja Training Centre, I was struck by how the colourful patterned swathes of fabric the local women wore looked similar to Camille’s designs – bold and eye-catching. The UTC was like a giant tree house, designed with a large sloping roof to give people with albinism extra shade from the sun. Its tiles had been made from soil, dipped in water, compressed and left to dry in the heat of the sun. I loved the idea that the centre was built by the ground it was born out of, and made by local hands.

Painted water tank and building facade by Camille Walala and Julia Jomaa, Umoja Training Centre. Photography by Harry Freeland.

Painting started straight away the next day. Camille and Julia had been tasked with covering the community’s water tanks, transforming its library with her trademark use of colour and new radio production lab in pattern. The pair mapped out the first water tank and remarkably had finished it by lunch. The blue, red and green circumference of the tank added a transformative accent of colour to the centre, foreshadowing the technicolor dream soon to come later in the week. Under the close direction of Camille and Julia, the rest of us painted the exterior of the consultation centre with Yves Klein blue window sills and light pink facade punctuated by half white and half black circles. The circles symbolised the UTC’s aim – to bring together people regardless of their difference. Camille and Julia’s excellent song selection had neighbours flocking, particularly local children who watched the duo curiously.

The second water tank, a tall cylinder, looked like a Tanzanian textile design with its angular blocks of colour. This was my favourite Walala design as everyone helped, from beneficiaries of the program to the Tanzanian SV team to the Zetteler team, it was a true collaboration. By Tuesday we had really got into the groove of painting and helping with renovations on site. Simon Sawyer and Alex had begun constructing the library and the painting was in full swing with pops of colour emerging all over the centre.

Painted water tank by Camille Walala and Julia Jomaa, Umoja Training Centre. Photography by Harry Freeland.

More than 70 guests arrived for the Summer Skills Workshops 2018 on Thursday, both people with albinism as well as their friends and family. What I loved was the community atmosphere. For example, a woman would pass her baby to me whilst taking part in the art workshop and feel completely at ease with me, a stranger, looking after her child. The highlight of my day was joining the photography and woodcutting excursion. We boarded the luminous pink Standing Voice bus and sung Swahili songs all the way to a coconut plantation. We hit the beach with the group taking photos of the vegetation, pelicans, and fishing boats and then climbed a hill to a viewpoint and drew the landscape. The participants of the workshop had full creative licence with their own digital cameras and sketch pads from the centre.

On Saturday I helped at the tailoring workshop as participants busily worked on pattern cutting for their sun hats. In the afternoon Alex Booker ran a woodcut printing workshop. Having never done woodcutting before everyone in the workshop guided me on how to cut, ink and print the block. It is such an intensely physical process. All of us standing around the table literally sculpting the organic matter together was an exciting experience to share.

Alex Booker's woodcutting workshop as part of the Standing Voice Summer Skills Workshop 2018, Umoja Training Centre. Photography by Harry Freeland.

My best moment of the trip was spontaneously attending a Tanzanian wedding with the photography workshop. We were welcomed into the celebration and danced while we photographed the event. I think this was a particularly brilliant idea as the participants of the workshop could see where their skills could manifest vocationally, such as being an events photographer for the local community.

Standing Voice continues to fight the stigma against albinism with creativity and courageousness. Playing a part in their Summer Skills Workshop was an incredibly special experience and I think is best summed up by Paschal Merumba, the gardener at the Umoja Training Centre: ‘We eat together, we laugh together, we do everything together without discrimination. They love us and we love them so this is a very special event, a very special moment.’

Camille Walala has been raising money for the life-changing work Standing Voice does throughout the year. To donate, visit her JustGiving page here.

Camille and Julia painting the water tanks.

Water tank painting with Chrispin.

Leticia finishing off the radio lab's mural.

An evening on the beach overlooking Lake Victoria.

Read the full press release for Standing Voice here.