SARAH BANCROFT

By Standing Voice

August 9^th, 2018

Sarah Bancroft is a UK-based journalist with a career in national print media. She is also qualified to teach English to speakers of other languages, has lived in India and volunteered in Sri Lanka. Moved by our founding documentary, In the Shadow of the Sun, and eager to engage directly with our work, she travelled to Ukerewe Island this summer to lead an English language workshop, before joining the distribution team for Moon, Shining Bright!, a children’s book written to dispel myths around albinism through accessible storytelling. Below, Sarah reflects on four weeks she’ll never forget:

It’s often a little strange thinking back on the train of events that have led to an important experience. For me, the combination of growing up a shy, very fair-skinned only child; loving a Nigerian with albinism much later in life; seeing In the Shadow of the Sun on TV in 2012; and discovering Standing Voice online in early 2017: all these things led to my email last autumn enquiring about the Summer Skills Workshop. The exchanges that followed gave me a sense of people who were welcoming, capable and focused. All the questions I had as a new volunteer were answered quickly and clearly.

Before going, I didn’t realise quite how important English is for Tanzanians: I was surprised to discover that, to continue in education beyond the age of 14, they must switch to learning in English. That must be incredibly difficult without a solid footing in the language.

Planning lessons in advance wasn’t easy. I knew participants would vary significantly in age (between 15 and 45 years old) and that some would have no English at all. I came armed with a lot of resources, but the wide remit meant I had to adapt on the spot and adjust rapidly in gaps between lessons.

The decision to try to deliver genuinely useful lessons to participants across all core workshops (radio, art, storytelling, photography, tailoring, woodcut and batik) took skilful juggling with the Summer Skills timetable. With the support of my co-instructor, Molly Hardy, and translators Chrispine Mabwenga and Ramadhan Hajj, we ended up teaching 24 sessions of 45 minutes each—although, on the request of our classes, they usually lasted longer!

The varying abilities made it a challenge to produce lessons that would engage everybody equally. Still, as we got to know individuals better, we were able to tailor content and ask for more or less complicated language.

We paired those with stronger skills with those who were less confident. It was great to see them supporting one another, usually to the benefit of both.

We used simple songs with actions, visual cues, such as flashcards and miming, games, and a lot of questions and answers to engage students, introducing and reinforcing new language. The songs, which the students enjoyed a lot, were vital for structuring lessons and making things memorable. We also broke into teams, which worked well for encouraging collaboration and inspiring competitive energy.

As each day passed, we moved from topic to topic: first of all, ‘who I am’—greetings, introductions, saying where we come from, describing our families—then on to objects, activities and feelings; building in the grammar as we went. In places, we adapted to the workshop that was hosting us. With the radio group—perhaps the youngest, but also with some of best English speakers—we explored words and phrases that would be useful to them as reporters, including question words such as ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘how’. In what I’m sure was a whirlwind induction for many, we tried to build vocabulary from the ground up, focusing on experiences and objects familiar in Ukerewe. By the end, we were creating sentences with language drawn from all four lessons. There was a palpable sense of engagement and appreciation from participants across the workshops, regardless of initial ability.

After the workshops ended, Molly and I joined the distribution team for Moon, Shining Bright!, a beautifully illustrated storybook written to promote greater understanding of albinism among children in Tanzania. We visited a range of schools on Ukerewe, delivering interactive assemblies to introduce the book and explore its key messages.

I’m so pleased I was able to contribute to this project: the book is a lovely story, well produced and with provocative questions dotted throughout. Judging from initial responses at assemblies, I’m certain it will spark excellent discussions and interactions between students, families and teachers. Creating a space for young people to think about the issues around albinism with informed and trusted authority figures, such as teachers, will surely go a long way to combating myths and misunderstanding. It would be very good to see this project fan out to more schools and communities. I think Moon could become an important marker in the fight against ignorance.

For me, it was also super to be part of a small Tanzanian team, and to interact with communities beyond the immediate parameters of the Umoja Training Centre, which had been our base for the Summer Skills Workshop. Seeing more of Ukerewe made me feel more at home there, something I particularly appreciated in those closing days.

It was a great honour to be on the island for a month. I enjoyed it all enormously. It was also humbling to find so much positivity in a place where daily life is much more difficult and less privileged than the one I take for granted.

I’m so impressed by what Standing Voice has achieved in its short existence, which seems to be a powerful combination of serious practical help (preventing skin cancer and treating visual impairment) and effective initiatives to address the deeper stigmatisation and isolation of people with albinism. The creativity injected into the latter—in the building of the Umoja Training Centre, a truly beautiful and useful community resource; and the development of the Summer Skills Workshop—is inspired. And what fantastic people gravitate to the organisation! Both the team of volunteers and all the staff I’ve met. Really talented and really nice. Rare.

From my first contact with Standing Voice through to the conclusion of my trip this summer, it’s been an immensely positive, engaging and rich experience.