While Disabled Children Across Tanzania Are Hidden Away, Brenda Shuma Is Building East Africa’s Leading Rehabilitation Center

Brenda with youth from the Gabriella Centre

In 2012, the Gabriella Children’s Rehabilitation Centre was on the verge of closing its doors. Today, under Brenda Shuma’s leadership, it’s grown into one of the most respected disability and rehabilitation programs in East Africa — currently caring for 152 children in long-term residential care and reaching another 414 through short-term therapy and outpatient services.

That growth didn’t happen by accident. Brenda took over a center with almost nothing left to work with and rebuilt it into a place where children with disabilities get physical therapy, medical care, education, and a future — instead of being pushed to the margins, which is still the default for too many families in the region. Her work has since doubled the center’s class capacity and its reach, and in recognition of what she’s built, Brenda was named one of the Top 25 Women in Management in Africa.

Children learning in class at the Gabriealla Centre

None of that happens through sympathy. It happens through action — showing up every day, building capacity, and refusing to accept that a lack of resources means a lack of care. That’s the same principle GO Campaign backs across all 210 of its Local Heroes worldwide: local leaders who are already doing the work, and who just need the fuel to do more of it.

GO Campaign’s grant support helps Gabriella Centre keep expanding — more beds, more therapists, more children reached. Every donation goes directly toward that growth, because Brenda has already proven what she can do with it.

Support Local Heroes like Brenda.