When I set off for Africa, Tanzania wasn’t even on my radar. There were no plans for me to board a plane in Kigali bound for Dar Es Salaam via Nairobi, or another that took me to Mwanza. I certainly didn’t know I’d be circumnavigating Lake Victoria for 4 hours on a cramped bus on my way to Musoma. It was only through an unforeseeable set of circumstances that I was able to get to know, and do good in, this beautiful country. |  | | | | --- | - | --- | Lake Victoria Disability Center (LVDC) is located in Musoma, Tanzania, famous for the bountiful fish in Lake Victoria, and the huge granite boulders that litter the countryside. Founded in 2002 by Dennis Maina, LVDC provides vocational and life skills training to children and adults with and without special needs, along with physiotherapy and a department for prosthetics and orthotics. LVDC started in a single room in the Musoma town center. Over the years, Dennis and his team were able to collect enough funds through grants and donations to buy land and begin to build and expand the center. As more people in Tanzania learn about it, the reach and scope of LVDC increases every year. Dennis still visits LVDC several times a year, but he now operates primarily from Scotland, where he has a registered charity – LVDC Scotland. According to his website, the main objectives of LVDC Scotland are: * “To raise and/or collect donations that will aid the development and running costs of Lake Victoria Disability Centre, Musoma, Tanzania” * “To offer advice and give practical assistance to LVDC” * “To encourage and provide information to volunteers going to LVDC” * “To collect and send donated resources to LVDC” Among the people who work for Dennis at LVDC are individuals with physical disabilities, people with partial or complete deafness, and people with albinism. *A little aside*: Tanzania has historically been a hostile place for people with albinism. Albinos were and are persecuted and brutally killed, their body parts sold and used by witch doctors for rituals and in potions. Superstitions propagated by these witch doctors and the uneducated claim that the bodies of albinos can harness magic, and that this magic can be used to bring good fortune to the person on the receiving end of those concoctions. Needless to say, LVDC provides opportunities for individuals in the region who might find it otherwise difficult to find a job and contribute at their full potential to society.