After graduating in 2013, Timothy Alianello, worked as a freelance graphic designer as well as a layout and advertising designer for the Ellicottville Times newspaper in Ellicottville, New York. 

In January of this year he became aware of the opportunity to volunteer with an organization called Neema Crafts that works to employ and empower individuals with disabilities in Tanzania. He shares, “I first became aware of Neema about ten years ago. My sister did a study abroad program in Iringa where Neema is based and came back to tell us about it. Then two years ago she and her husband returned to volunteer there.” 

People with disabilities in Tanzania are among the poorest of the poor and are viewed as incapable and drains on their families and communities. Neema was started in 2003 by the Anglican Diocese of Ruaha and features eight craft workshops, a therapy unit for disabled children, an award-winning café, a conference centre entirely staffed by deaf people, and a guesthouse jointly run by the local Mother’s Union. By employing and training these individuals and focusing on their abilities rather than their disabilities, Neema aims to provide them with a viable income, life skills and self-worth, while showing the community they come from that they are not worthless.

Since arriving in April 2015, Alianello has been helping the center by using the graphic design skills he learned at Mohawk in a variety of areas, including working with the screen-printing workshop to re-design and develop packaging for Neema’s products, designing promotional materials and working with the café to revamp their menu. He is also working with some of the employees to teach them computer skills. In his own words, Alianello shares the impact working and living in Africa has had on him, “Designing for Neema and living in Africa has been a much-needed shot in the arm for me. Creative inspiration is everywhere in a fresh setting and the work that I am doing here is spiritually and emotionally fulfilling. I hope that when I have completed my time here in September, and return home to start whatever may be next in my life, I will be able to look back and see that I have loved these people well, and in my own way, using my own gifts and skills, have left them and the Neema Crafts center better than I found them. Neema’s slogan is “Be Part of the Story” and I am humbled to know that I have the opportunity to do so.” 

This story was originally published in Fall 2015 in the Mohawk Alumni In Touch magazine.